


THE LOVELESS

by TinCanOfCheese



Category: Floraverse (Webcomic) & Related Fandoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-26 02:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 32,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17737574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinCanOfCheese/pseuds/TinCanOfCheese
Summary: Floraverse: The Loveless Session 2 - Get Ready For Action Screenplay by RADICALGOBLIN





	1. “Hands Down”

When You Were Young

 

 

Tap.

 

Tap.

 

Tap.

 

The rocks were flung at her window at a low altitude, but the noise rang through the dingy house. Outside, the perpetrator waited with a consistency, his shaggy, blonde hair trailing down and mixing with his fur, shades of low yellows mixing with brown. As he readied another rock, a resident opened up the door, with a frenzied hurry. “B-Bernard? What are you doing here, it’s like, 3 AM!-” She started. Her body was slimmed and covered in fur, much like the thrower of stones. Unlike the Turf Tiger, You could see her crimson eyes, orange pupils dilating into shock, as the white fur of her torso clashed with the dark blues of the night and her own black arms. “Look, i know! Listen…” He hushed, a scant worry and hesitance in his voice. “Be quick, my dad might hear me and...well...you know.” She continued, not wanting to talk about it to much. “Well, what I do know about your father seems kind of...well...I…” He claimed, choking up a little bit. “I wanted to help you escape. Even if it’s just for a bit.” The Manticore halfbreed confirmed. She looked at the felidae with a sense of appreciation for his honest amnesty. “I...Give me a second.” She quipped, rushing off.

 

The tiger could hear the fluffing of pillows and covers. The flowercat proceeded to jump out of her hive and showed herself fully, a flower on her head, in perfect bloom. Bernard felt like tugging at his non existent collar, and tearing out the lump in his throat. “S-So...uh...Anna. You know where you want to go?

 

The duo trekked off, in what looked to be a run down ATV. Anna held Bernard in an honest appreciation, tightly. “I’m grateful you're doing this for me. I don’t get out a lot.” Anna bemoaned. “It’s fine. I’m glad I can do this for you.” Bernard said, Stopping at a red light. Which was odd, since not a lot of vehicles are out at this time. Anna responded with a light purr, and a less light hug. The pair drove and drove until they finally reached their destination. It was a lone drive in dinnery, a relic of their past. “Y’know, out of all the places to go, I wouldn’t expect a place like this. Seems like a sloppy first date spot, yeah?” Bernard quipped, Anna lightly punching him on the shoulder. “We’re not like that, you doofus!...not yet anyway.” Anna joked, trailing off. “A-Anyways! That’s not why I came here. My dad might get...mad...if I gain more weight.” She said, trying not to let too much slip. “Hey, A single milkshake can’t do too much harm right?” Bernard suggested. “Yeah right...I don’t even like ice cream.” Anna reputed. Bernard clawed back with the smuggest look he possibly aim at the flower cat. “Really now…?” He questioned. She stared at him with as much posterity she could manage…

 

Before cracking up at the tension.

 

“Ok...fine, i’ll take a strawberry. But a small ONLY!” Anna relented. Bernard too, gave a laugh. “Sorry if i was blueballing you.” He continued, lightly holding the hands of the feline. She gave a light chuckle. “Of course not.” She replied, walking with him. After placing their order, They sat in a boof, aligned with plush. “So...What about this place that you wanted to come here?” Bernard questioned. “Funny you should ask, it’s not this place specifically...although they do make a mean slider. My brother used to bring me here before he...well…” Anna responded, but letting up as it went on. “I can take it.” Bernard said, in a well meaning confidence. “He...kind of killed himself. Bernard, internally, was put off by this, but tried to keep the cool. “Wha...How come?” He asked. “...My father. Atleast i assumed.” Anna admitted. “Oh my god...That man’s a BASTARD!” He yelped, trying to lower his voice. “Like, i’m sorry if i’m being a drama queen, but it seems like every week you got another shocking horror story about him!” Anna looked down at her milkshake, half empty. “No, it’s fine. I understand.” She uttered. Bernard took a breath of spite, and slightly calmed down. “Does anybody even listen to you? About ANY of this?” He questioned. “No, not really. I mean, I can’t blame them. It seems like a lot.” Bernard slumped in his booth, his anger forcefully transitioning into a state of shock. “...You atleast wanna see what I came to show you?” Anna said, almost shrugging off her admittance. “Y-yeah, I’d rather that.” Bernard said, finishing his milkshake and lightly throwing away it’s fake, plastic container, with Anna trying her damndest to give him physical comfort in her confession.

 

“Hold on for a little longer, It’s coming soon.” Anna assured Bernard. Every minute in her hands made his emotional catatonia feel better. Atleast, in the short term. It felt like they were going nowhere though, through a grassy path near the diner, and a dimly lit light showering them, body part by body part in green stripes, growing larger as the trees diminish in size. “God, it feels like I’m going to Heavenside.” Bernard chuckled. “Yeah…” Anna trailed off, thinking of darker thoughts. When the lights reached their peaks, The spot revealed itself. It seemed like a cliff, but gave off the best view of the town anyone had ever seen. Everything was in it’s right place, tiny and miniscule enough to not overshadow anything but big enough to notice it’s intricacies.

 

“Wow…” Bernard marveled. “This is...beautiful. No wonder you’d pick it!” Bernard said, facing Anna.

 

“R-right?”

 

Bernard was starting to get worried. She was just staring off. “A-Anna, I-” He began. He reached for her shoulder, before she moved towards to the pit the cliff offered.

 

“Oh god.”

 

He knew where this was going.

 

Bernard dashed towards the flowercat and grabbed her arm quickly, knowing her intent.

 

“PLEASE, DON’T!” He screamed out, in an almost animalistic nature. Anna dangled from his grasp, before falling to her knees, and looking at him, with a slight tears in her eye metamorphosing into a cascade of tears. “I...I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! I CAN’T!” She exacerbated. “WHY HIM? IT COULD’VE BEEN ANY OTHER PERSON TO TAKE CARE OF ME BUT IT WAS HIM! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I’M TIRED OF IT! I’M TIRED OF THE BOTTLES ON THE FLOOR AND THE BOOZE POURING OUT OF HIS LIPS, AND THE WAY HE TOUCHES ME ITS...FUCKING...I’M TIRED, OK? CAN I JUST GO TO SLEEP?”

 

It sounded as if she almost tour out her vocal chords. Bernard’s grip increased tensity as she wept for her failed family and happiness. “I...fuck, I CAN’T LET YOU DO THAT! YOU MATTER TOO MUCH FOR THAT! I have so much in my life I can thank you for, I have to pay back! In SOMETHING, ATLEAST! Please, CAN YOU ATLEAST JUST STAY IN THE SHORT TERM? SOMEWHERE? ANYWHERE? I CAN’T LOSE YOU LIKE THAT!” He screamed. “AND I’M SORRY, OK? I’M NOT THAT GOOD A FRIEND OR A LOVER OR...WHATEVER! BUT LIKE...I...I…” He tried to continue, before pulling Anna up by her heels and grasping her in a desperate embrace, sobbing onto her shoulder, and her onto his. “O…” Anna began, choking up. “Ok...I’ll try. Just for...just for you.” They loosened eachother’s grasp, looking at eachother in a permettant gaze. Anna wiped the tears from her eyes and wiped the shaggy hair from Bernard’s obstruction, showing his red on black pupils, wetted with the dew of tears, wiping them off too. “I’m...sorry about this. This wasn’t what I intended. I wanted to show you the view, but...well, you know.” She continued. “No, it’s fine. Nobody should have to go through that.” Bernard said, defending her. Her gaze turned to one of trust. “You wanna...try this again? Maybe, next friday?” She questioned. Bernard nodded quickly. “Y-Yeah!...I think we should get going though, It’s like 5 am, and you going with some random boy is gonna make your shithead dad flip.” He commented. Anna chuckled, hiding an innocence, and they ran back to his ATV.

 

And, for the next couple of months, they had excursions around town in the dark of the night. They loitered, They messed around in playgrounds, giving irony to their age. Sometimes, they’d crash the hotel nearby and mess around in the pool. They did what felt like everything together.

 

And then it stopped.

 

For when Bernard went back to the maiden’s home one fateful day, the window had seemingly disappeared without a notice or trace. He almost burst down the door, confronting the father about what he had done to her, but to his surprise, she said he didn’t have a daughter. Nobody, it seemed, remembered her touch. This lead him into a downward spiral. Nothing he could find could prove Anna’s existance to the world, but he kept trying, which took his demeanor down to the southside. He trained himself to fight, not only to give himself something to do with what felt like a trivial pursuit, but in case his quests required fighting authority, and messed with drugs. Despite all of this, he never gave up, even if his searches took him to less refined establishments...like let’s say, a Waffle House.

 

For he was Bernard, The Man Who Can’t Be Moved.


	2. “Look After You”

1-2

 

BEEP.

 

BEEP.

 

BEEP.

 

The alarm clock rang. A furred arm, covered in covers, funnily enough, felt for it. After a while, he slammed down on it’s snooze button, and groaned as the sun peaked through the broken window, reflecting on wood walls.

 

Triste never had it good. The pygmy flowercat lived in the worst part of Countryside, where the incest rode wild. He could hear it everywhere. The creaking of the floorboards, the moans of his family, it all disgusted the man. He was lucky he never saw it, though.

 

Mainly because he couldn’t see.

 

The incestuous defects came through in numerous ways, but for him, It affected his sight, his eyes so small it melded into his fur. He could only hope to see using his whiskers. The world around him looked like a blur disconnected with slight lines, killing the childhood dream of cowboy-hood. He envied they way they noble-y defended the rights of the people to live life without fear of tyrants and bullies...kind of like his own. But he never liked to dwell on that. The cowboys in those stories never seemed to, nor did they commit to giving up for that matter. Triste, however, seemed to have a lot more piled onto him to make him do so. He couldn’t really get a job (he damn well couldn’t be trusted with farm equipment.), He was judged by his peers, his parents judged him everywhere he went...he had to do SOMETHING. He HAD to prove himself. Somehow.

 

He shrugged it off for the day. He needed breakfast after all. He crawled out of the bed, revealing his form. He was a slender figure, covered in tan fur and darker stripes, his paws slender and bone-y. He walked out, looking as if he was in some sort of daze, occasionally feeling around while his whiskers did most of the work. He could hear his family have polite chit chat, calling for him. “Hey, look, it’s Ol’ Windowlicker!” His father said, God, how he loathed them, even if he had them to lend for his creation. Every day, he felt like they were mocking him for his disability and his dreams. “Did you have any dreams? OH WAIT! HAHAHA!” The bastard chuckled. “For goodness sakes, just let him eat his breakfast in peace, would you Brown?” His mother lamented, giving him a plate of half-burnt eggs.

 

Triste’s mother was a lot better than his father, but sometimes it felt like she could be worse in some aspects. Every time he talked about his ambitions as a kid, she always seemed sad or straight up annoyed at what he wanted, and judged him less with screamed detriment, but hushed disappointment in what he’s been made as. It sickened him eternally whenever he thought about it.

 

“Cmon, Bell! you can’t expect me not to give him a little bit of lip? I mean, LOOK AT HIM!” Brown continued, before being slapped across the head by his spouse. “It’s just not right. I know i would never hurt him like that.” She continued. Triste said nothing. He was used to this by now. He assumed there would be a time where he could prove his worth SOMETIME. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, catching almost everyone off guard. Brown almost immediately went for it, and was greeted by a meek mailman. “Y-you’re paper, sir” He said. “Ah, thank you fine fellow!” He said, grabbing the newspaper, slamming the door in front on him with a hearty thrust, hearing a cracking bone or two outside. The newspaper got a hearty plop, a page falling off it’s racks. Triste felt it’s direction, and grabbed it quickly, laying it on his lap. He never got to read the newspaper, for his father would attack him, but he always wanted to learn the outside world’s treasures. That too, was part of an outlaw’s life he liked, always a search for scenery. He folded it and hid it in his armpit, proceeding to sulk down back to his room, avoiding suspicion.

 

He rushed back to his room, and quickly unfolded the paper, and felt it’s top. He had learned to get the slightest view of what something read from how heavy the ink was placed. He could feel S’s… An upper case C...wait...Oh my god.

 

Triste almost squealed. He tried to keep quiet, though. On an occurance, he stumbled onto the Classifieds, where one found a job. This was the escape he needed! This could prove he could live on his own, despite what they had given him! He stared directly into the paper’s knowledges…

 

And saw nothing.

 

Oh...right.

 

He sighed, and tightened his grip in anger. Goddamnit! He should’ve known that something you have to READ won’t do him any good! God, It’s like he’s as dumb as his father says...he…

 

No, he’s not gonna be with that. He has to find a way to figure out what it says. He looked around the paper. He didn’t get anything on it’s side or back, but on the facing side, he could see this bumps, if he really looked closely. No way…those…

 

He put his hands across the paper and scanned. His paws were greeted with an odd sensation of bumps. His eyebrows raised immediately. No way. They didn’t start printing in braille. Oh...oh my god. He teared up a little bit, but he tried holding it back to avoid attention thrown onto him. He felt around through the sheet. These all seemed like a lot of fluff. It’s not like they weren’t good jobs but it just didn’t...flex his muscles in the way he needed. He needed to show off, in a firey and glorious defiance! No more sitting back in his room this time. He felt around for something more...him. Finally, he...atleast THOUGHT he felt something.

 

“HELP NEEDED: SEARCH PARTY”

 

“LOST CHILDHOOD FRIEND, REQUIRES GUSTO AND INTELLIGENCE”

 

Oh, wow! The intelligence part was completely wrong but gusto was an ability Triste could show off in spades...at least when he was allowed to show it. He felt further in the ad.

 

“7:30 AM TOMORROW, CITYSIDE. WAFFLE HOUSE, 116TH STREET, NEXT TO EARL’S USED CAR PARTS AND LOBOTOMY SERVICES. FREE BREAKFAST. DON’T BE LATE.”

 

“-JOYTAIL”

 

Oh dang nabbit. The pygmy never liked the city. Always so cluttered and dangerous. It’s not helped his parents would keep screaming racial slurs at all the other species whenever they would go there...but it’s worth that risk. He couldn’t act bigger than his britches about this stuff. It was worth the euphoria a heroic deed earns you in the public eye. He grabbed his cane and wielded it as if it was a sword of some type. He then inspected it, his whiskers giving off a puny image. This is not the weapon of a cowboy! This is ridiculous, a CANE? Get real...wait a minute.

 

Triste dashed to the broken window and proceeded to peek through it’s crack. There was dirt road, a cornfield, dashed with numerous shades of grey and brown...and a shed. This was where his father would fix broken farm equipment, but also had a lot of tools for the job. Triste knew his father probably wouldn’t let him in...but it was something he had to risk knowing his future…

 

He slightly chipped at the windows with his cane, until he could get out with only slight risk of injury. He put his leg through the gaping hole, with his arm as support on the sill, and quickly tried to jump through, meeting him with a tiny, sharp pain near his arms, causing him to fall down onto his back.

 

“Fuck…”

 

He mumbled, trying to keep quiet. He felt around his arms. He felt sharp stings around his shoulders, but it didn’t seem to be bleeding just yet, which he was grateful. He ran out as quick as he could, cane in hand, and rushed to the shed, jumping into the open window. He set his cane down on the workbench, with sweat from his brow and thoughts in his head. His first idea was a revolver with a su-u-u-u-u-per long barrel.

 

That’s the worst idea for a cowboy gun ever.

 

Wait a minute… what about a shotgun? That doesn't seem probable, considering the size of the cane. He looked aside him, at the wall adorned with tools and gadgets. Next to it was a a pile of junk. Brown would constantly find junk in garage sales or aside the rode, and use it in his contraptions and fixings. He carefully felt around, feeling sharp points and blunted edges. He grabbed one random object and put it on the floor, feeling it up once more. It seemed like...an umbrella, without the cover.That seemed to have enough parts for what he needed. He cut some parts off, mainly the extendy-things. What the fuck are those even called? Y’know, when you press the thing, and it goes all big and it covers you from rain-

 

OK, off topic.

 

He then hollowed out the cane, and put the trigger for the umbrella at the side of the cane’s handle, as a sort of on/off switch. He then cut out the top, and felt back around in the junk pile for a couple lone shotgun shells. He put them out, and tried to cut out a nice shotgun-sized hole for the loading compartment. He may not know about nuclear physics, or social science, or math, but what he did know about is GUNS, and he was proud to say that as a proud Countryside born PygmyFlower.

 

He then turned the handle into a forearm, used an arcade button for the trigger and… To be honest it looked like shit.

 

When he held it in his hands, he could see the uneven shape, and dangerous design...but it was the best thing he could afford. He crawled out of the window he came in, and dashed back through the dirt road back into his own house, a good hour passing. He had a while until he had to depart, and as he fiddled with his clock to start up MUCH earlier, he realized he most likely couldn’t go back after this.

 

As he sat on his decrepit bed thinking his thoughts, he realized he probably needed to look a better part. I mean, it was obvious he didn’t look that right anyways, but he could at least TRY.

 

He felt around his room, looking for his drawers. In countryside, people rarely wore clothes except for special occasions or jobs. He admittedly only had a couple things in his drawer anyway. They were somewhat small for his size now, as these were what were bought in his infancy. He pulled it open slowly, and saw a light shape of a cowboy hat in his hands. He put it on, memories of childhood and better days washed through him like sine waves. He feeled around and came across a dusty toy belt, with compartments for toy guns and a large gold belt buckle. As he wiped off the grey particles, his heart felt a little better about it all.

 

He didn’t know exactly what he looked like, but he could come up with a visual. It seemed slightly threatening, to someone, at the least. He felt ready for it all. All he needed was to catch the bus that came up every morning and drop off at Cityside. And frankly, he couldn't wait.

 

\---

 

The day came and went like a bird. Everything went on as normal, with the perceived conception that the status quo would stay, with Triste a punching bag for older cats. All the insults and putdowns struck comedy in the homestuck pygmy, a permanent smirk on his face as he knew they had to find a new target after he fled for Cityside. It was odd, though. As Triste waited in his room for his alarm to give him a slip, an anxiety fled into him. Potent, too. He only felt this scared under his father's watchful eye, a title he loathed that he was given. Brown married his sister, who birthed a girl and a boy. The boy ended up blind, while the sister, they say, died in stillbirth. Triste always doubted that, and imagined a life where she was there for him, to give each other purely platonic joy. Maybe if she was here, she'd-

 

BEEP.

 

“Oh FUCK.”

 

SLAM.

 

God, he was so wrapped up in his sad monologue he forgot about his plan. Cane-gun  in his hand, and his full cowboy outfit adorning him, he slowly opened the door, and walked out to the dark, bare living room, the door exposing the 5 AM night. He grabbed his father's stock of shotgun shells and wallet from the countertop, hiding them in his faux pistol pockets. As he began to open the door, he could sense someone walking out into the open.

 

“Where the fuck do you think your going?”

 

It was Brown. Triste turned around, an anger in his stance.

 

“You think I didn't notice you stole the Classifieds from my newspaper, you damn crook? Cripples don't work, boy. Never have, never will. If you think I'm gonna let you ruin my name like that, you're shitting.”

 

Triste took a deep breath. “You don't control me, Brown. I'm sick of letting you treat me like a varmint.” He spat.

 

“As your father, I do. I don't care about your age, son. A cripple who dare to be  under my parental controls are fixing to be stayin’ here awhile.”

 

At this point, Triste was getting more angry.

 

“God, you say that like that's my blooming fault. Tell me mister, who was the one who decided to hitch with their own sister, huh?” He spat. “Don't take rude to me, I kept you under this hous-” Brown proclaimed before being cut off. “ANSWER THE QUESTION, GODDAMNIT!” Triste yelled. “WHO DOOMED THEIR SON LIKE THIS?”

 

“This...isn't my fault.” Brown assured, his voice shaking. “YOU MURDERED HER! YOU MURDERED LILY!” Triste broadcasted, aiming his DIY gun at his faux father.

 

Brown's fear shot up tenfold.

 

“P-please dont.”

 

Triste stared him down, ironically enough. His trigger finger trembled with an anticipation for his cause and a fear for its effects. He wanted to kill him, so bad he wanted to do it. He knew it was a sin…

 

The thought of his postmortem sister tormented him too much.

 

He took his shot, which shot him outside the house and shot his father into a casket. As Browne bled out from the wounds in his lower left chest, Triste dashed to that dirt road, and met the bus just as it dashed past his home. The pygmy ran towards the bus, screaming for it's attention before it slowed down for his attendance. He dashed onto it's stairs, paid the fee, and sat down, looking out at the windows.

 

He finally became what he wanted after all this time. A cowboy. A convict. A vigilante. His childhood yearned for this. It felt weird when he thought about it. Cobaining his father seemed like the last way towards that. But it seemed all worth it, and the only way he could avenge his sister. As he stared at the light purple sky, mixing with reds and blues, his life seemed to be over in replacement for a new one. He didn't seem to mind that though.

 

For he was Triste, The Con-vindicated Cowboy.


	3. “Astrovox” (Or, “Sincerity Is Scary, Part I”)

Laxgay sat on his porch. The room he had was devoid of color, but it was homey. He had a coffee in his hand and a had it all. At least, it seemed like it.

He was a fairly well off Bastian, living in a house with fellow gay bastians like himself under a singular master. A lot of it was sex, birthday brothels and...yeah, sex. A LOT of it. Because none of them wanted to catch diseases, they all lived in the same house, and vowed to never have sex to anyone with else. Fair practice. But for Laxgay, he seemed sick of it. He stared at the streets of Cityside with a intense fire. The cars, the stores, they were plastic as could be, but a life as tribal as this, he wanted out of.

He heard stomping from outside. That was usually MassGay, the dominate towards all the subs and…

Oh god.

Laxgay thought of their system and sighed. Now, Laxgay’s ACTUAL name was Antares. But because MassGay, who’s real name was Bob, wanted to be cute, he gave ALL of the seven subs the dumbest goddamn names you could imagine all ending with “Gay”.

In case you forgot.

“Good jesus, this is painful. Let’s think about this rationally. Like, obviously people like getting called names in sex is like fine, but fucking...fuckin’ ‘oh GayGay, give me your fluids, like SHIT.” Laxgay mumbled into oblivion. Suddenly, like a dog to a bell, Massgay knocked on the door. “Come in…” Laxgay grunted. “Ah ah ah! What do we call your master?” Massgay questioned. “Jesusfuckingchrist, Come in, MASTER.” He bemoaned.

  
Massgay waltzed into the room, adorned with all black leather bathrobe and slippers. He looked fairly similar to Laxgay, except a redder shade of fur.

“You look ridiculous.” Laxgay smirked.

Massgay showed a tint of anger before returning to his cocky muniment. “Ha...you seem pretty miffed. Is your master not paying enough attention to you?” He did this a lot, try to play this tsundere bullshit with him. “No, i just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Luxgay replied, not having that today “Oh...Well, you should get ready for the day. We have a lot of plans!” Massgay replied, disappointed. Laxgay showed satisfaction in his accomplishment, walking out of his room for some breakfast, with Massgay visibly disgruntled at the fact.

As he walked out into the living room, he could see the six other subs who lived in the house. There was Biggay, who was the largest of them, Littlegay, the probable jailbait of the group. His Birth Certificate says he’s 18 but he looks like 15. Nobody’s comfortable when he’s with the dom. Then there was HyperGay, who was ALWAYS on meth. He had on the blue cap, the brown baggy jacket, the whole crack addict look going on for him. He went here thinking it was rehab and they never asked about it again. Then there was TittyGay. He was the fat one. Everyone’s tried to titfuck him, and they all end up bluff. Too saggy. And then there was MissingGay.

He never showed up.

They were all giving eachother a mutual finger while they waited for their poptarts. Laxgay was, like, this close to throwing up. He decided to just go into the freezer and get some Apple Jacks. Because they freeze cereal in this household. Massgay heard on Men's Health that frozen cereal loosened the asshole.

As he chomped down, the other Gays looked at him with a sad look. “C-C’mon Laxxy, it-oh-it feels so good!” said Biggay. “Uh...no thanks. Looks kind of...gross. Like, I think you might actually catch a disease.” Laxgay pointed out. “What, are you doubting our master?” Tittygay pointed out. “W-well, no, but-” Laxgay stuttered out of his mouth. “Then get in on the fingering you dip!” LittleGay said, playfully. “You can’t just get me into a sexual situation i’m clearly not ok with! That’s rape!” Laxgay, said, standing his ground.

“What does that mean?” Massgay asked.

Laxgay stood in silence, interrupted with moans, the group of subs ignoring Laxgay’s intent in statement, before slowly turning to Massgay in a dazed confusion.

“What.” He flatly interrogated.

“What’s rape?” Massgay asked, with the vaguest sense of innocense.

Laxgay’s stare looked at the father with a tenseness in his heart. His hands rounded together like he was strangling something. “Y-you atleast know what consent is, right?” he continued.

“I uh...I think.” The daddy suggested. Laxgay sighed with relief. “OK, you’re not that stupid that you wouldn’t be going around sexually assaulting the residents of this-”

“Those are like, all the letters of the alphabet that aren’t vowels right?”

Laxgay’s stare tensed up with anger.

“You...CAN’T be that stupid, right? Am I hearing this correctly? Have...Have you ever had sex with ANYONE without explicit permission? Please give me a good answer.” Luxgay demanded, closing in on Massgay’s personal space. “Well, uh...I…” He muttered. “I mean, I just assumed if they had a dick they were trying to get action, I-”

Laxgay stormed off. “THAT’S IT!” He yelled. The rest of the subs looked on with shock. This was Laxgay’s boiling point. “YOU DON’T TALK IN THAT TONE, YOUNG MAN!” Massgay said, storming off after him. “I wish daddy yelled at me like that.” Littlegay said. “You...really don’t.” BIgGay said, with a concern in his brow.

Laxgay stormed into his room, locked his door on the way. and packed his belongings, which admittedly, he didn’t have a lot of. Mostly his wallet, his clothes, of which they barely wore in this household, and his phone, put in a Flor-Mart bag. Massgay’s fist slammed onto the door in rapid succession. “YOU DON’T MOUTH OFF TO YOUR MASTER LIKE THAT!” He bemoaned in a yellish fervor. “Well, you’re not my master anymore.” Laxgay simply stated, opening the door. He was greeted with a slap with a belt, shaking him down to his ass. “Listen, don’t get mad at me. We use this belt all the time for Maltreatment Tuesdays.” He corrects. “IT’S FUCKING THURSDAY, WHAT ARE YOU ON ABOUT!” Laxgay belted up, pushing Massgay aside in a rush, before the other subs interrupted their anal session to look onwards at the angered bastion. “W-wait, you’re not leaving, are you?” LittleGay questioned. Laxgay turned to him and shrugged with his bag in his hand. “What do you think I'm doing?” He admitted. “Well I think you're STAYING HERE, PUP.” MassGay quipped. “Nobody has left this establishment for two years and I'm damn well keeping you and that record!”

Laxgay gave off a sigh of detriment as he walked towards the door. As he reached for the doorknob, his legs were gripped by the fellow bastions in the home, minus Massgay, who gave an evil eye to the enveloping events before him. “Please, don't leave us? Who's gonna give me and the master the thumblers and finglers?” HyperGay cried in a fervor. Before Laxgay could ask what the fuck he was talking about, it was followed by another proclamation of desperacy. “W-when you do the Pablo's Tongue-Twister, or the McHandJob, or the Grandpa's Clothesline. My life is filled with meaning.” TittyGay screamed.

Several other people gave well meaning testimony that blended back into Laxgay’s confused state of mind. He began to realize something very important. Despite all their numerous sexual escapades, he tried to be nice to the rest of the gays, because despite his salty nature, he did care at least somewhat about all their feelings.

They didn't share that sentiment. Sex was everything.

Everything.

“Everything…”

Laxgay moaned, interrupting MissingGay, who was actually here for the ceremonial goodbye.

“L-Laxxy?”

“...Everything yOU ASSHOLES LIKE ABOUT ME REVOLVES AROUND SEX!” Laxgay roared, kicking the harem off his grasp, flopping onto each other as MassGay rushed towards him as he exited the pejorative prison.

Laxgay found the air refreshing as he walked on the dick-covered sidewalk leading to his house, the grass emanating dew. He could hear a swung open door behind him, his mood souring as he faced who opened it.

“Laxgay, if you set one more foot into that world without my allowance, you're a DEAD MAN. You can’t live like a normal man anymore! You’ve been spoiled by subservience to me!” Massgay, sounding like a shakespearean villain. Laxgay just looked at him with a dead stare, and turned back around to the edge of the city, the screams of his previous master and the cries of his current subordinates creating it’s soundtrack.

Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to find a new permanent residence in a quick succession, he decided he might as well book it at a hotel of some kind. He looked around for the Through-And-Through inn, a place that was about a mile or so from his previous home. As he walked on the perfectly clean sidewalk, his surroundings changed. He went from a better life to something more in the nitty gritty. It figured, after all he had just left his privilege at home, with the rest of his sex-dependent former subordinates. As the sidewalk’s consistency got more muddled, jagged, and coarse, which wasn’t helped by the lack of shoes for the bastion, Laxgay saw the surroundings as an odd recollection, with the cloudy 4 PM sky, the worn down aesthetic of the buildings and incoming inn gave Laxgay a tad bit of hope. Things could be different. Maybe he could cut down on the swearing and perpetual anger, you never know!

“This is the longest red light on the fucking planet.” Laxgay proceeded to mutter as about 20 cars and carriages and hoverboards or whatever the hell kept him from entering his temporary household, on the other side of the street. Guess that “less swearing” quota’s shot to the ground. After what felt like a century, the bombardment of cars stopped and Laxgay dashed to the doors of the hotel.

The place had a mainly orange and red color scheme, with blue carpeting. There was a fairly large pool with two slides, separated from the lobby by a large screen window and a tinier door. He was right next to a sleeping Hanged Man receptionist, with a bunch of keycards in his hand. Laxgay looked around for cameras, swiped one, and dashed off into the hallways, hoping nobody say his escapades. He looked at his keycard.

THE THROUGH AND THROUGH INN

“ENJOY YOUR STAY?”

[B227]

So that meant it was on the 2nd floor in the B section. Simple enough. Just have to take an elevator trip is all. He walked to the end of the corridor and was met with a grey-colored elevator, with flower decals etched onto them. He pressed the “Up” button and waited for the doors to open before entering the cab, slightly distorted muzak attempting to serenade the impatient pantherinae.

As the doors opened, he saw a beat up Coala-Cola machine. God, finally! Laxgay was waiting for the moment he could drink something OTHER than water, milk, and the homemade juice from the master and subs He took out his wallet, put in some coins, and looked through the options, like the aforementioned drink, but also Diet Coala-Cola and Pibb Xtra Ultra DX. He pressed the button, as numerous sounds akin to a malfunctioning weed whacker caused the soda to shoot out so violently it probably put a schism in the inside of the machine. Laxgay picked it up with caution and opened the can. About half of the contents dispersed as gas or foam, sizzling onto the can’s top, threatening to fall over at any time and ruining the bastion’s precious mane. He quickly dashed his head down and sucked down the fizz in the least phallic way he could possibly manage, before taking a sip of the drink, a cinnamon-y zest in his mouth. He was caught off guard by the taste, after not having any REAL beverage in quite some time.

Massgay didn’t even taste this good.

He threw away the can as he walked to his room. He slid the card into the doorknob’s slot and heard a melody of beeps before being let into the small room, with two beds, a bathroom, and a television. As he inspected his “home”, he noticed somebody left the newspaper on top of the TV. He picked it up and skimmed through it’s contents and headlines.

“BELIETH & LILIT GOES MISSING AFTER CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT”

Oh wow.

“CHILD SEX SCANDAL GOES BONKERZ”

Oh jeez.

“E.V: ‘I WAS THE VICTIM’ “

Doubt it.

Suddenly, he got near the end of the paper and came across the Classified sections. One ad, however, caught his fancy.

“HELP NEEDED: SEARCH PARTY”

“LOST CHILDHOOD FRIEND, REQUIRES GUSTO AND INTELLIGENCE”

“7:30 AM TOMORROW, CITYSIDE. WAFFLE HOUSE, 116TH STREET, NEXT TO EARL’S USED CAR PARTS AND LOBOTOMY SERVICES. FREE BREAKFAST. DON’T BE LATE.”

“-JOYTAIL”

If he got a good pay, this could be what he needed to start a new life! Seems like it atleast. A search party is some pretty good pay. Laxgay rubbed his chin in interest as he thought of any sort of plan could be accomplished with the dough he’d accomplish saving this friend. It’s not like he didn’t care about what was going on morally, but...money is good. And he probably needed it right now. He looked outside. The sky’s blue hue became a bit darker as 6 PM rolled into the frequency. He needed something intellectual to award himself for a successful escape, Luxgay realized.

He ended up turning the television to “Top 50 Most Epic Criminal Fails”.

As the television flashed vague colors, he could hear rustling of cans in the outside’s distance. It sounded like someone was rummaging through the trashbags of the hotel, which was definitely...odd. Especially for a low-key place like this.He got off the bed and looked through the peephole. He couldn’t see anybody, but he could hear that clanking and rustling still ever present. “Is that...a raccoon?” Laxgay thought to himself. Seemed unlikely, but it’s not bad to check, right? Laxgay slowly peeked out of the door, to see if there truly was a rodent hiding in the rummage.

He was greated, with, instead, a tallish goo creature, a hooded poncho on his shoulders. They don't seem to notice the bastion however, as he rummaged through the trash can, pulling out aluminum cans and putting them in a large bag. Laxgay reached out to him before the top creature rescinded to him, revealing an odd, Turf Tiger face, covered in scars. Shocked, the bastion fell over, hitting the wall, as the poncho’d hybrid tripped, losing some cans in the progress.

“SHIT!” He yelled, hurrying back to pick it up. Laxgay got up and helped him, which was met with much a resistance from the Gooey tiger, snatching the cans from him. “Listen, I can’t be caught conversing around here. I’ve already been banned here for a while.” He said, standing his ground. “Wait, really? Why?” Laxgay asked. “He doesn’t like it when you steal from the garbage bins.” The mysterious creature replied. “Well, I’m sure you don’t need to rummage around here for...cans.” Laxgay thought. “Well, when you’re homeless and nobody wants you, you take what you can get.” The disfigured man admitted. Laxgay felt his breathing stop for just a second. “Oh...That’s why. You make your millions at the recycling plant.” He said, a smirk in his expression. “Ha ha.” The wrapped man said. “Really funny.”

The feline huffed. “But seriously, why not come in? I want to help you.” He offered. The hybrid seemed shocked through the bandages. “You’re...not kidding?” He questioned. “Of course not! I mean, i have nothing better to do for a while.” He admitted.

But there was more to it. For he could see some of himself in the plight the hybrid posed. He was lucky to have the home he had, at least temporarily. He wanted to know that he cared. And, to his hope, that he knew that he was starting to love him. But we’re getting ahead of ourself.

Because as he saw the hooded creature waltz into the room, their hand in eachothers, the television blending out as the two felt the closeness in the room, Laxgay could empathize with the the emphasized fear that was felt. And he knew that both of them had a future to look forward to, even if it seemed far away up with the goddesses of Mars.

  
For they were Laxgay, The One Counting Stars


	4. “Note To Self” (or, “Sincerity Is Scary, Pt. II)

 

 

He thought he'd make it in a mansion.

Instead it was a dumpster.

 

Wraps had been discommunicated from his family, not only for his unusual head, but the injuries under his namesake. Purebred goo creatures had a tendency in their culture to actively obsess over outer beauty. One of them was named Adrion, who married a Turf Tiger who also had an obsession with the outer persona. They married, expecting their child to have the best mixtures of both species. However, his head and body were of two separated specimen, with the head of a Turf Tiger, and the body of a Goo creature. As much as they tried to hide their disappointment, It was obvious that he could never truly be loved. In that, his childhood was met with lenient amounts of dejection from his peers. He found friends, but the majority of people gave him scorn for his body and who he wished to express himself as. Just as he was about to be a Sophomore, he got into a car accident, leaving his face with numerous cuts and scars. This was to be the final straw for the egocentric couple, as they faced arguments and scorn from the former loves of their lives for the most of Junior year before being kicked out entirely, with minimal support. He tried to survive, but eventually ended up on the streets of Cityside.

 

As the high school bled into the present day, his throne of a full garbage bag led stale. He got up, a pain in his back, and whipped out a black shopping bag. His goal was to collect enough soda-cans in order to recycle them into a decent amount of funds. For the most part, he had to resort to loitering outside the gas station, a diet of Luffer Tuffer and Hairyheads. He was surprised his teeth hadn’t rotten out yet, but there was still some slight yellowing. He looked at his bag. His can supply was running out. “Oh god…” he bemoaned. “This is fun! You’re starting to run out of the thing you need to survive!” he muttered. So he got up, and roamed the city. He definitely didn’t look the best that day, rummaging through the cans and recycling bins. Outside the gas station, inside the fast food joints, in the garages of homes, he was desperate.

 

It felt like he had no other choice. No job would want him, whether it be for his lack of job experience, or his appearance and hybrid status. He was the least likely to get anyone to support him on a financial front. He sure as hell couldn’t get his parents. All of his calls to them, for any reason, ended with talks of disappointing sons and the legacy being ruined. All of them.

His peace of mind was at a stand still.

 

As Wraps wandered, half of the hybrid’s mind stuck on the hatred of his parents, he dazed into his bag. He only had half of it full. “I can’t live off of THIS!” He postured. He looked up, stopping right at the edge of a red light. A shock in his bones. He looked around, realizing he had gotten so far off track he was in a different part of Cityside. He might even up in Topside by all of this is over! 

...Well, obviously that was silly. Cityside and Countryside were smaller, and easy to pass through than a place like Topside, which is divided by the dead space on either side. 

 

...The fact he paid attention to that rather than how to get a job was probably why this is what he’s resorted to.

 

Well, whatever. He looked south to himself, and saw...Oh god.

 

The Through-And-Through Inn. 

 

That place was a goldmine for cans. They had vending machines littered everywhere. That probably made more money than people booking stays there. But Wraps had already been banned there plenty of times before.

 

He couldn’t.

 

He actually couldn’t. 

 

He-

 

Wraps noticed a family of aurora wolves about to enter the hotel.

 

He had to.

 

Wraps dashed to the hotel, rolling under the bushes to avoid the possibility of suspicion. He sneaked behind the cars, and slowed his pace as he got near the building, squeezing past the door, with the biggest bag of cans anyone ever asked for, as if he were to be Santa Claws for the hood set. He duck into the elevator, going onto the third floor. He looked around for a security camera, which he quickly fractured. As the door opened, he dashed past a petal dragon and dashed towards a left behind garbage cart, with some cans inside, albeit covered in rotting foot. Wraps gulped as he tried to pick them up with the tiny tips of his claws.

 

“HEY!”

 

Wraps turned around, seeing the janitor who left it behind. “I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO SCRAM!” The janitor yelled. Immediately, he kicked the garbage trolley into the custodian before he dashed towards the elevator and slammed on the top button, the slimming doors giving him paranoia. As the cab went lower, he could hear angry yelling and swears, but was simply glad that the worries were quenched, at least a little bit. 

 

As the door opened, He slowly walked out in fear, paranoia brewing inside of him. He jumped to the trashcan, trying to make a quick dine and dash from the trash can. Slowly, he heard a creek from behind him. Quickly, he tried to act like nothing was wrong and ignored the sounds, a body creeping up into his senses. As sweat slipped into the bandages on his head, he could feel a hand on his shoulder, immediately recoiling.

 

Shocked, the creature fell over, hitting the wall, as the poncho’d hybrid tripped, losing some cans in the progress. 

 

“SHIT!” He yelled, hurrying back to pick it up. The perpetrator got got up and helped him, which was met with much a resistance from the Gooey tiger, snatching the cans from him. “Listen, I can’t be caught conversing around here. I’ve already been banned here for a while.” He said, standing his ground.

 

“Wait, really? Why?” The bastion asked.

 

“He doesn’t like it when you steal from the garbage bins.” The mysterious creature replied. 

 

“Well, I’m sure you don’t need to rummage around here for...cans.” The bastion hybrid has an odd look on his face as he spoke. 

 

“Well, when you’re homeless and nobody wants you, you take what you can get.” The disfigured man admitted. 

 

“Oh...That’s why. You make your millions at the recycling plant.” He said, a smirk in his expression. “Ha ha.” The hybrid said. “Really funny.”

 

The feline huffed. “But seriously, why not come in? I want to help you.” He offered. The hybrid seemed shocked through the bandages. “You’re...not kidding?” He questioned. “Of course not! I mean, i have nothing better to do for a while.” He admitted.

 

Wraps waltzed into the room, their hand in eachothers, the television blending out as the two felt the closeness in the room. He was scared, but also comfortable with the bastion. “My name’s Laxgay, by the way. Don’t ask, it’s a long story.” They admitted. Wraps chuckled. “Im curious.” He pressured.

 

“Nah, I’m pretty sure you digging through trash cans is a bit more interesting than me happening to have a silly name.” Laxgay joked, The gooey tiger chuckling along with it. “Well...I thought i would end up in a mansion but I...kind of ended up in a dumpster…”

 

\---

 

“...And then I met you, and now we’re chatting it up here.”

 

Wraps concluded his story with a slight tear in his eye. Laxgay’s inquisitive stare was never broken. “Wow...That’s heavy...And what a terrible nickname to give you, too! Your parents seem like shitlords.” He lamented. “Yeah, I’m over it now...for the most part.” Wraps bemoaned.

 

“Well...Y’know, if you need a place to stay, uh...you can stay here!” Laxgay offered. “Hey, you could even work with me! I got this classified in the paper you could get mileage out of. It’s some rescue mission kind of deal.” He continued, giving Wraps the paper. “...Who’s Joytail?” he asked. 

 

“No clue! Apparently he’s some scientist dude. I’m sure that could give us good pay!” Laxgay commented. “...Hopefully that’s not the only reason you decide to take this up. “ Wraps feared. 

  
  


“Of course not! Saving people’s cool. But i know both of us need some dosh for us to waste on...umm…” Laxgay stammered, realizing he had nothing cool to waste his money on. “...Designer clothes?” Wraps added.

 

“HELL YEAH, NOW YOU’RE THINKING MY LANGUAGE!” Laxxy approved.

 

The two chuckled the night away, talking about what they could buy with their money potentially gained from the excursion at the Waffle House. Clothes, cars, a lot of things. But if anything, Wraps was simply proud of the fact he had this with his new friend, for which he could only be so grateful. Why wouldn’t he? If it wasn’t for him, he’d probably be starving near Patill’s Wings And Things. This was his last chance, and it felt like it was given to him. He sure wasn’t going to waste it anytime soon by disgracing his humble hospice from Laxgay. Why would he? That’s a loyalty you couldn’t break. Especially from his point of view.

 

For he was Wraps, the Foster From Rags 


	5. "Viva La Vida"

"Viva La Vida"  
"Wake up."  
"M-Mister! Are you ok?"  
"WAKE UP!"  
The cat awoke from an odd slumber. The white feline wiped away his shaggy hair from his eyes, wings on his head twitching with his ears, as he looked around. He was almost naked between the church steeples, a hunger in his stomach and a foul taste in his mouth. Next to him was a meekish boy, who couldn't be any older than 15. He was covered in a cloth, with slightly enlarged eyes staring at him with a blue pallette  
"Oh, god...peat, wh're am i?" he questioned, in a fairly deep timbre. "The Temple of The Sacred Covenant!" The cloaked one spat out almost immediately, like he was trained for it. "Hm, what doth thee people commit to hire?" He said, getting up, and looking around. The church existed in muted purples and pinks. Moans of ecstasy roamed the hallways in search of eachother, from no uncertain reason."...because it seemeth like you long for deliberate orgy." He quipped, rare for his more reserved type. "Well we're supposed to be serving The Masked Sun but...we've been off track for a while.” He admitted. His smarmy disposition cut off, realizing what the boy said. "The... Masked Sun?" He uttered, fear in his vocal chords. "Y-yeah, what are you...?" The sheeted creature questioned, but it was too late. The feline dashed out of the church steeple in a fearful daze. He had no clue what was happening. He thought the lord Baphomet, Andre, all of them, were seen as the rightful creators.. this...  
In the haze of thought and vision, he slammed into a glass door. He regained from his depersonalization as he looked up to the sign designating where he was.  
"CATTY MCFELIDAE'S THRIFT STUFF”  
"BUY THINGS? MAYBE!"  
Thrift? During all his excursions with the floraverse, he had never heard of this phenomenon. He looked behind him, running far from the church, it's gothic interior bathed in low shades of purple, blending out of the pastel green grass and muted blue flowers. He looked back forwards and walked through the glass doors, a blue tinge of paint running through the light beige walls. The store was bathed in the pastel shades of blue, owed to how the lights were wired. The rows were covered in numerous used clothes and items. To most people, this was a pile of junk you had to pay to steal from. But for ljhim, this was a holy grail of treasures unknown to most human eyes. His jaw was gaped open in shock.  
He roamed around the closely knit and poorly constructed aisles, his hands drifting through the sleeves of shirts as he looked at all the different shades of colors of top clothing, ranging from t-shirts to gowns. He dashed towards the other aisle to find a gallery of knick-knacks and antiques from ages past. They were usually variations of porcelain dolls and wooden toys. He knew about these beforehand, so he paid little attention to it. However, his dash to the aisle next to him was more fruitful, as the numerous relics of past had a much sought after shelf-life. It was a large collection of dated electronics for sale.  
Old clocks, radios, cheap electronic toys, many things saw by the ordinary city-dweller as useless remnants, but seen by this newcomer as ancient treasures. The idea of him having access to all this would be absolutely hairbrained. He was practically stuck in the heavens, only getting glimpses of the outside world when told to by the divine. Back then, it felt fine, but now it was oddly melancholy, the thought of subservience. After all, it's always good to be obedient to the lord but...this felt a lot more free. And to most people not caught up with the childlike joy of new discovery, it'd be a lot more worrying that he'd have these new wings  
The thoughts belonged to a more somber backdrop as he was caught up in the follies of his dumpster diving. As he continued to look around, passing through old paintings and frames, he was caught off guard by a very specific article, held aloft by the featureless mannequin.  
The Jeans.  
The Denim  
Yes.  
This was what connected heaven to earth.  
The jeans reached new ECHELONS of baggy. The shit was like...oh my god. You could probably fit your whole body in the one leg and be a blue caterpillar. This. THIS..was the future of the Floraverse's kind. This was the peak of evolution and innovation.  
The angelic feline fell to his knees and bowed down to the foam person, speaking in unknown tones and vernaculars.  
This went on for about an hour before, suddenly, the feline was pushed down to his side by one of the workers. The arctic-colored cat look up in a shock. It was a young pygmy tiger, decked out with glasses and a bowl cut. Her special pins on her blue overshirt implied she was the manager. "What are you doing?" She spat out, with vile focal points in her speech. "I-1-I was just..." The scared cat spat out. "What's your name?" She cut him off. "Uh...lihim." He managed to crank out before the Pygmy could cut him off. "Listen, you've been here and you've bought, like, nothing. Just... Take what you want. I don't care." She said, angrily trailing off. "E-even this godly invention?" lhjim questioned. "WHAT?... Yeah sure." She flatly allowed. The angel almost immediately snatched the entire mannequin, and a random book from the nearby section for them.

As he walked off, the change of scenario shook him to his core. The sky turned a dark distance from the blue stratosphere he came from, the lights either shut off or dimly countering the dim, black, starless sky, a moon being it's only backdrop. The stark contrasts shocked him. He turned around, to the haven of treasures, but the door was shuddered, with a "Closed" sign blocking his entry. Injim was heartbroken, as he looked down in a saddened fit.  
"OPEN 7-12"  
Suddenly, his obsession dawned on him. He had literally spent the entire day in this devil's home! Gods, he felt so STUPID...  
ljhim huffed and turned around, walking aloft and alone on the rough sidewalks. He rustled through the large pockets on his jeans, feeling some items. As the feline pulled them out, he felt hope. His paw held some brightly colored coins, with inscriptions of them resembling fruit, and a crumbled up piece of paper. The angel put the coins back as he separated the paper from the mass of coins. He uncurled up the small paper, expecting some sort of secret note from a lover, but got something a lot more corpulent. It was a coupon for none other than a Waffle House. Like most things in this realm. ljhim knew not about these Houses of Waffles. The coupon was for a "Classic Waffle", so he assumed they had been around for eons of time. Only "Regulars" could get this coupon. so naturally... It must be a secret society! Yes...that was it. To know this fact gave him enlightenment. He had to unravel this mystery. He rushed forwards into the unknown, looking for this elusive cult of pancakes  
As the night sky slightly let up, lhjim became more tired than he ever knew. His body ached, his nose was sniffly, and his legs wobbled. His goal was so close to him, just a couple blocks away, but...he had to rest. He just had to. The denim scuffed onto the side of a building, as the angel forced himself into a fit of heavy breathing, staring off into the cityside's abyss. His head racing, he whipped out the book that had been in his hands for so long. Admittedly, this didn't help his case, considering it was fairly heavy. But hey, it was free, so he couldn't be too mad. He glanced at the purple cover and saw a...familar name.  
"OUR SYZYGY'S OPIUS: Writings related to The Masked Sun."  
The cat let out a small gasp. ljhim had unwittingly obtained a book relating to the heretic's religion. He was at a loss for words. He randomly flipped to a page.  
"There are many denominations to The Masked Sun. As it's known, The Masked Sun ended the previous realm to ake way for the new. Due to this oddly vague ending to the story, many people have different interpretations to the fate of  
world. Some people think the world will never be reversed, others think the end of days will come soon. There is also Ference on how much control The Masked Sun har over our earth. Some people, like late famous preacher Lemegeton Sr. ink that The Masked Sun is watching over our every move, making changer to what he seer fit. A fair majority, however, lieve that it has left us be for now atleast."  
nim couldn't even believe his ears. People believed this junk? He would know more than nyone that the sacred beings were the ones for this land. He did fall from those heavens, after 1. Atleast, he thinks he did. He definitely hoped so. He knew that his devotion to the lords didn't st happen out of coincidence, with as little as he knew before he woke up. He continued -ading.  
"There are beliefs consistent with all followers of the church. The reverse of the world was caused due to the sins of earth. If we wish to get a better ending, we must follow the trails put down by the Sum. Usually, trust in the Sun and the nders of Flora are expected, or punished in this life and the next."  
something about that...rubbed him the wrong way. No religion would be this vindictive towards e mal-adjusted, right? It made him fear for the people that followed this stuff...  
ut he couldn't get too hung up about it. He had a secret society to uncover. He got up, and ashed with a similar energy to before he found out what he did. Not that he wasn't still oncerned, but he knew his trek couldn't be too interrupted.

The Waffle House sign was tinged in a yellow light. The sign was a foot or so away from the rectangular restaurant, bulbous lights giving it's tiled walls and wooden floor visibility. Ijhim felt the chills reach his spine, as he reached toward these clearly dangerous push doors. He put all his energy into his pull, but with no luck. He bent down to his knees, trying to summon all of his muster into the pulling on this door, but no budge. He looked the handle in it's eyes, pleading with it before noticing the "Push" notice adjacent to it.  
He pushed it open with minimal effort.  
As he walked into the Waffle House, he smelled the most diabolical smell...the smell of syrup and sweaty employees. An evil was afoot, for surely. As the yellow halls reflected light, he sat down in an oddly large booth. He waited silently, for anyone to come. The moment anyone would come, he'd pounce...and soon he'd pounce. As he glanced over next to him, he was met with a large pygmy tiger. He had beige fur, with black and red indents. He had a large happy trail of black fur across his back, clashing with the many shades of light brown around it. He was clothed in oddly sharp clothing, a spiked hat and suspender-like appendages in his grasps, his legs dexterous and bold. But it didn't seem to get to lhjim. In fact, it only gave him more pleasure when he began his attack. He would do anything to get the information involving justice. He couldn't not sit back. It was instilled in him by the gods to be a fighter in the world of justice.  
For he was ljhim, The Angel Against The Silences


	6. "Intro (Or, 'Cold Days From The Birdhouse)

1-6 

"Nobody loves me... and nobody loves me...and nobody loves me."

The cell-phone rang with a vengeance. As the red and black satyrbun imp grabbed it, he saw a familiar face.

"Oh, god..."

It was Lillian, a muse of his, one that the was getting sick of. She was a junior while they were a sophmore. She had a tendency to get him involved in her weird plans, usually involving pestering freshman. And sometimes it was fun, but god, she was a lot. She was always worth it though! Even with her...um...lesser moments. Yeah, uh, those. Fearing an angry response from her at school, they pressed the green button next to her icon, showing a Pygmy Pyzyk, with a light brown color scheme and straight flowery appendages. She burst into the conversation with a typical teenage tone

"AMEER! I gotta talk to you about something." She said.

"Ok, what?" he said, a slight disinterest in his voice. "Ok, so...

"You know about Zimma, the weird bearring girl with the notebook full of hentai we found in her locker? Apparently she tried beating up on whoever she thought found it! I don't know who she beat up, but if she beat up one of those emotionless robot kids, she might get EXPELLED from the whole school!" She blabbered on

Ameer could help but let out a sly chuckle. It was in his nature to like the chaotic aspect of school. "Wow...well, anyways, i gotta get ready for school-" hebegan, before being cut off.

"You're so cute like that. Actually, I had something else to talk to you about. Meet me in the bathroom after lunch. he don't have cameras there." She said, before hanging up. Ameer sighed with an air of confusion. She would always do this, the bathroom thing. It wasn't always bad, but sometimes it got really awkward really quick... Regardless, he decided to get his stuff in check and got on his way to school, bursting out the door, racing for his bike. It was a very run down machine, but it got the job done. As Ameer readied his balance and biked through the rough sidewalks, he looked around the ghettos their classmates lived in. The sky was a shade of red, like always, The homes were always down at the heel, which Ameer never minded. he wanted the life of a roughneck, anyways. he desired for it, the chaotic life he needed. he were an imp, after all...

Admittedly, the status of an imp felt weird to him. It's not like he wasn't one, but he were a bit different. Maybe it was the satyrbun blood, but admittedly he were a little bit more compassionate than most imps, at least society-wise. He was of a softie in that regard. People made fun of him for that. Which, obviously, is why he should be grateful for their best friend right? It seemed like it. The vibe that Lillian gave them seemed to present that, at least in

or hints of disagreement.

Ameer tried to put it behind him. He did that a lot.

Finally, He reached the school. St. Lemegeton's Higher Key School was probably the worst place to be a kid, but he took it. He entered the blocky school, the hallways littered with numerous kids of numerous ages and numerous species. A lot of numerouses were going on in this school. He walked towards the lunch table to get to his 1st period, which came and went Most first periods were like that. And then the 2nd period came and went...and the third...you could see where this was going. Ameer absorbed nothing in his tenure at school, unsurprisingly. He was too unruly, too itching for excitement. He couldn't handle the sort of attention school required. He wasn't STUPID, but... Yeah, he knew nothing about whatever these old geezers were talking about He sulked out the 4th period with a dull look on his face. Ameer was zonked out of his mind. The only thing on his mind was lunch. As he turned a corner, he felt his flesh collide into another person, a couple books flying around. Almost immediately, he grabbed for the books to give back to the victim of his idiocy. "Oh my god, bro, i'm so sorry for all of this, did anything break? Are you...oh." He began, before being greeted by his ireful victim. It was Zimma, the bearring that Ameer and Lillian harassed days previous. He was a chubby, black-furred creature, white flickers in her head-fur. She snatched the books from him and slapped him lightly. "WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO ACT LIKE A FRIEND TO ME NOW?" She spitefully spat at the satyrbun hybrid. "OH I GET IT, ONCE YOU WANT TO TEAR ME DOWN YOU HATE ME, BUT WHEN YOU HAVE TO FACE YOUR ACTIONS, YOU ACT ALL KIND? LIKE YOU CARE ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF?" She growled. "N-No, that's not it at all, i-" Ameer began.

"FORGET IT! YOU AND THAT PYGMY BRAT CAN END UP IN THE WORST PARTS OF HELLSIDE!" She shrieked at him, before dashing to the cafeteria. Ameer stared at her with a legitimate shock in his dome. For once in his life, the chaos he yearned for felt hollow. If this was the end result, did he really want to be with a person like Lillian? As he sulked to the cafeteria, his eyes showed a clear daze. He sat down in his table, coldly eating premade food with only the slightest hint of organic creation. God, it felt like a reflection of his heart right now. He didn't think his antics would cause people this much distress. He would never be involved with all of this stuff if it caused people so much torment. It tore at him inside. but this is what he wanted, wasn't it? He...he had to make it up for them. Somehow. He

Suddenly, he felt a slam on his table, shaking him off guard. "I TOLD you to meet me in the bathroom!"

It was Lillian, the Pygmy Pyzyk in the flesh. She dragged Ameer into the unisex bathroom, and lightly tossed him into a stall, following him. "S-sorry, it's just that, Uh, i got distracted. Zimma knows that we did the hentai raid, and she yelled at me about it." He bargained. "...Alright. I can understand that." She said, in a completely detached cold tone. Ameer began to express relief, before she sharply turned around with a slightly more devilish look.

"We have to actually talk about why I called you here, obviously." She said, waltzing over to the demon hybrid. "Uh..." Ameer's fear shot up again as Lillian's tone got more sensual, closing in on him and his body. He lightly pushed her away. "P-please stop, I don't like girls like that." He weakly cried out. Lillian scoffed at the idea.

"Oh, now you want to act like you don't want this? Get real, if you had a problem you wouldn't be ok with all the other times we did this." She vaguely reasoned. Continuing her attempts for reconciling feelings. Ameer started to feel a flurry of emotions in his body "B-but...THAT WAS YOU!" He yelled. "You were begging me for this stuff! You found any reason you could to ask for it! That kind of stuff wasn't even on my mind and you found a way to make it about sex! I'm TIRED OF THIS!" He called out into the echoes of the bathroom, reverbating in the hopes of anyone hearing it, with Ameer starting to push the woman harder. "Oh, i get it." Lillian said, her voice quaking. "I do all this shit for you and you start to disrespect me? I LOVED YOU!" She shrieked at her. Ameer's anger started to spiral.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME?"

He said, grabbing Lillian and shaking her down.

"I CAN'T HANDLE THIS ANYMORE! I'M TIRED OF ALL THE HURT I'M CAUSING, AND I'M TIRED OF ALL THE ATTRACTION I'M FORCING FOR YOUTHIS ISN'T WORTH IT! NONE OF IT IS! WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER WITH YOU? I CAN'T JUST SIT BACK AND WATCH YOU MAKE OTHERS SUFFER! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! I CAN'T-I CAN'T, LILLIAN! I CAN'T. TAKE THIS. ANYMORE." He said, letting go of his grip and stomping his hooves towards the exit. Suddenly, he could hear sniffling. He turned around, seeing the avian creature in the fetal position, shining a singular eye. Ameer wanted to help her up, but... This shit kept happening. He'd reach his boiling point with her, leave her, and come back to her. He...he just couldn't risk

He bolted out of the bathroom, and then out of the school. He ran, his hooves clacking through the mid-day, tears running down his face. He had to run. Run from her. Run from the school, from the people he hurt. Run from the memories of them. He just had to go Go, Run, KEEP RUNNING A trail of moans and sniffs echoed through the Cityside and this part of the demon neighborhood as he neared his decrepit apartment. But by the time that happened, Ameer's legs were so tired. Whatever muscle developed could only take so much. He stood still for a while, before collapsing. He limped towards his house, but heaved exhaustment. After a while, he gave up on the house and dragged himself towards a closer place next to him, a sewage tunnel. He flopped his way there, falling on his back. He crawled up on his side, his arms over his curled up legs, and started absolutely bawling. Ameer's eyelids were slits as light red tears poured through them in an ecstacy. He was at his breaking point, plain and simple. The roughneck lifestyle he wanted fired back in his face, completely. He was too well-mannered for that. He didn't want this.

_ I don't want this. I never wanted this. _

**Yes you did.**

_ No, i didn't _

**Oh, don't kid yourself. You love to breed misery so much you'll do it to yourself and the girl you love.**

_ I never loved her! _

**Then why did you let her do all that stuff to you? Hmm?**

_ Sh-she pressured me too. I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I _

**Doesn't matter. This is all your fault. You'll probably be crawling back with your hands on your knees in a leash for her, you bitch.**

“N-no..." Ameer moaned to himself, muttering obscenities towards himself afterwards. Suddenly, he got a phone call, snapping him out of his state. He grabbed it quickly. It was Lillian again. He immediately declined the call, returning to what he was on before school started: A music service. Nabster, of course. Because paying for music is for wimps. He played the song that was prepared in his playlist, turning up the volume. It was from his favorite band, J. Meowle and The Kool Ol' Demon Gang. It started with a simple piano part, before some more piano parts and horn section played. The lyrics were sung smooth and silky, putting chills in the imp's fur and spine, almost wiping away his tears. His lyrics, the mantra he repeated; it gave him comfort.

_ Do you wanna, do you wanna be Do you wanna, do you wanna be Do you wanna, do you wanna be, free Do you wanna, do you wanna be, happy Do you wanna, do you wanna be, happy Do you wanna be, happy _

Ameer found himself nodding instinctively. As the chorus repeated, he grabbed on to the bars on the sewer drain and got himself up. "Y-yes! I wanna be-" He said, being cut off by the song, almost like it read his mind.

_ Free from pain, free from scars Free to sing, free from bars Free my dawgs, you're free to go Block is hot, the streets is cold Free to love, to each his own Free from bills, free from pills You roll it loud, the speakers blow Life get hard, you ease your soul It cleanse ya mind, learn to fly Then reach the stars, you take the time To look behind and say, "Look where I came Look how far l done came" They say that dreams come true And when they do, that there's a beautiful thing _

He felt comfort, security. He felt sane. Someone felt his struggle. That was almost all he needed to keep going. He climbed out of the hole he put himself in and dashed back home, his body still aching.

As he entered his room, he grabbed an important item of his. It was an aluminium bat, a few blood stains tight onto it. He used this to keep intruders out his dingy apartment, but would use it a lot more in the darker streets he planned to go to. He put it in a duffle bag, along with some food. He began to think he'd need a lot more but essentially just said screw it, and proudly walked out of his apartment. This was the beginning of a new life.

Ameer sat at the bus stop with thought in his eyes. The buses that came over here were usually very dainty. They transported people from here to Countryside. Topside and Hellside were almost impossible to get to from here. However, if you wanted to go to more parts of Cityside, the bus was the best way to do it. He had been waiting for a while, however. It was worth it too the usually antsy satyrbun imp. He knew that he had to wait.

After a while, the large, light-pink lights became visible to Ameer, as a bus started to appear. He immediately shot up, duffle bag in hand, and practically tore the sliding doors open, flying up the stairs to the bus driver, a somewhat obese necropossum, and the money pot that followed, beaming with bright lights.

"Where you tryna go, kid?" The zombie-like creature asked, rasp in their voice. "Anywhere but here." Ameer quickly shot back, chucking some lightly colored coins in the jar, and finding a seat, which proved difficult. This place was like an ark for numerous creatures in the Floraverse Aurorian Wolves, Drops, you name it. This singular bus had it covered. When another exited, another soon joined the fray, rife with talks and communications, Ameer even joining in on some occasions. He told his story to some curious, others sharing theirs. It was so odd to feel this happy, for him at least. For once, he felt free. He felt comfortable in his own skin.

Soon, he heard his stop coming to a forefront. He jumped off his seat, his duffle bag on his shoulder, and walked through the sliding doors, the multichromatic sky giving him shivers in his heart. The world looked beautiful. He felt a hope, that everything was going to be OK. He was going to follow that hope. Or at least, try to.

For he was Ameer, The Beamer Boy

END OF SESSION ONE.


	7. “Dream Motion Man" (Or, "Fate Fell Short This Time, pt. 1")

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Floraverse: The Loveless Session 2 - Get Ready For Action Screenplay by RADICALGOBLIN

2-1 

Cityside.

**Waffle House.**

**7:15 AM**

**On A Tuesday**

Joytail burst into the Waffle House. His demeanor was cold, calculated, and clearly indicative of some messed up thoughts. He was decked out with armour, most of it ending in a spiky doom. His shoulder-pads were red and white, decked out with spikes. His belt, too, had small spikes protruding from it in an orderly fashion. His hat was decked out with one singular spike, much like a pickelhaube. It was like if a unicorn fursona was in Mad Max. A positive, mind you. But i'm getting off track

His fur was mostly shades of beige, with black and red indents of fur existing around it. His claws were big and meaty, somewhat like his legs. His teeth with sharp and slick, and his eyes shot his opponents deep into fear with his red eyes. He was truly a force to be reckoned with. Most sane people wouldn't even set a foot near him.

Ijhim wasn't exactly that.

You see, as established before, Ihjim thought that the Waffle House was some sort of secret society. And the first person who walked into the house this early would have to be connected

I kid you not

ljhim summoned some power from the gods, and pointed his fingers like a gun before shooting a heavenly beam at the behemoth Turf Tiger. Joytail, trained in his type of behavior, ducked it fairly well, before lunging at the heavenly feline. Ijhim retaliated by snapping his fingers, creating a blinding light. Joytail, despite his training was caught off guard by this, his composure turning into flailing around. Ijhim assumed the victory, before being hit by the odd properties of his tail. It seemed like a weird android thing, containing a light blue viscous liquid. Some of it sprayed onto lihim, and almost immediately felt a wash of what seemed like a mix of narcotic and antidepressant properties, causing him to fall to the floor in a daze. Joytail slowly tried to get up, grabbing onto a table and leaving slight indents. He looked down on his defeated opponent, and grabbed him by the lapels.

"Why did you attack me?.." He growled, a deep timbre in his voice. "TELL ME NOW." He continued. "I...wanted to be i-in jail for..." lihim began. Joytail gave him more of a glare waiting for the answer, oblivious to lihim raising his hard towards the Turf Tiger's face."...a-salt with a deadly weapon." he groaned, a light chuckle in his voice as he blasted his heavenly art straight into the warlord's face. Immediately, Joytail's face was caked in hard, geometric salt. He was pushed back, muffled screaming and curse words being heard through the preservative casing. The angel used this opportunity to recoup his energy, hiding under one of the tables. Joytail squished the salt face mask into rubble, hacking reflexively at the flavor of NaCl a la carte. "God, now you're gonna get it, you punk! Do you know how hard it is to get that taste out of your mouth?" He shouted out, the jean-wearing cat keeping quiet. He could hear the warrior cat stomp through the restaurant, stopping dead behind him, at the table ljhim was at before all of this absolute carnival of nutplay. Suddenly, he could hear the opening of a book, and flipping through the pages. "SHIT!" lihim called out.

"Shut up for a second." Joytail said, turning to him. "Humma umma numma, Masked Sun, hunna nunna bunna, Hemagenenanernon..." He muttered, skipping through key words. "Oh my god..." Joytail muttered out. He grabbed for ljhim's neck and sat him down on the chair.

 

"Oh, yes, both of us! Are you desperate for literally anyone, and therefore won't need some massive evaluation?" The bastion asked, giving Joytail a cause for offense. "I mean, obviously we'll need to see your skills! You people obviously have to have SOMETHING to give me, I'm not talking to a bunch of kits!" he jokingly complained, getting a chuckle from both of them. "No worries, I know we probably have to do it anyways." The blue-furred feline commented. "I'm a bit scared myself..." The gooey tiger commented. "Don't worry bro, It's understandable...Now, uh, Crippy Kitty over here." Joytail chuckled. "It's Laxgay...long story." The bastion remarked.

He got up from his chair and took a deep breath. He held his hands out, and concentrated his energy. Slowly, an aura enveloped his paws, before being cut short, unleashing numerous crystal projectiles right into numerous people's breakfast, most of it absorbing into his gooey partner. "Oh...OK! I see your gist! You're a crystal user." Joytail said, responding positively.

"Yeah, although it can be a bit hard to focus my power. I'm sure my friend has just as cool magic abilities." Laxgay commented, pointing to the odd hybrid. “This is my friend, Wraps." he continued. "Uh..." The gooey tiger stood up.

"Well, I'm not super good at magic, but... I'm really agile! I can slip from people's grip and stuff, and I can like slide around really quickly! I can also-" Wraps began before being cut off by Joytail.

"Yeah that's gnarly and all, BUT CAN YOU DO THIS?" He began, lunging his odd, liquid-filled tail at Wraps' stomach. But as he injected the mysterious drug, it immediately dissolved in his body. It seemed his lower body was impervious to most pain, As Wraps only seemed mildly concerned with what was happening, ignoring the antidepressant in his system.

"What the SHIT?" He called out. "Yeah, it seems like this gooey body has no connection to my internal organs. You can't kill me from that." He said.

"Huh..." Joytail said, in a daze. "Wow, you guys would...really be useful. I thought i'd just get a long list of small-fry. So, anyway." Joytail began with an odd sense of sincerity, before the door was kicked open, to the tune of a faint harmonica.

"I reckon y'all city dwellers be searching for the House Of Waffles... but i'm hankerin' for THE TRUTH."

There was a pause.

" 'n also the House of Waffles... Cuz I ended up at 2 Denny's, 3 I Hops, and a Six Flags trying to get here."

The cowboy's sandy fur clashed with it's dark brown clothes, consisting of a belt and a 10 gallon hat, seemingly from a kid's playset. The gun he held seemed to be mismatched and handmade from scrap metal and walking canes.

"Uh...are you here for the job?" Joytail asked, a forced positivity into him, knowing this probably won't end well. "OH HELL YEAH!" The cowboy commented. Suddenly, he waved his shotgun around, the parts CHUNKing back to turn into a comparatively normal cane, which he used to traverse the terrain. "Wow, these new-fangled travertine tiles are giving me the shivers!

 

The cowboy jumped onto the chair. "Mmkay, so, my name's Triste, I'm 19, I've never learned how to read. I like spaghetti westerns, guns, freedom, long walks by the beach-" The beige pygmy blabbered, before being cut off by Laxgay

"Wait, then how did you get this ad?" The gay asked the straight. "Well, I'm blind, but my local newspaper had just been printing in braille, and this job seemed perfect fer my type of morale!" Triste elaborated, getting odd looks from most of the group, sans Joytail, who kept his thin veneer of a smile.

"Well, care to show us what you can do?" Joytail said, vaguely trying not to expect disappointment from a crippled man. Triste immediately dashed outside. Joytail looked at the others with an obvious confusion, muttering to them questions. Wraps got up from his chair, peeking outside to find Triste was picking up numerous rocks, from the side of the street and garden, holding them in the oversized pistol compartments, like a child, entering just before the groans of the candidates could overtake the echo-y walls.

"You city-slickers better watch this, because this is gonna get me into the big leagues for sure!" Triste claimed confidently.

He held a bunch of the rocks towards the group, with a clear sense of showmanship. Most of the party's enthusiasm was damp and lifeless. But suddenly, Triste channeled his energy into the pebbles, slowly metamorphosing into a scraps of metal. The previous lack of care from Joytail and co. turned into a lingering sense of interest. "Now, WATCH THIS!" Triste called out, feeling around for a plate, held firmly in his paw.

"Should we trust him with any sort of porcelain?" ljhim questioned, before being shushed by Joytail.

Triste took the scrap metal from his compartments and inserted them into the barrel of the cane. He then flicked back his walking stick into the form seen previous. He took the plate, threw it up in the air and shouted as loud as his shrill country chords could allow

"GIT DOWN!"

Both the congregate from Joytail and the actual Waffle House patrons who came for waffles and cheap sex followed Triste's orders as the lightning strike from the gun turned the plate into an ashy dust, floating in the air. Joytail got up much sooner than the rest, stunned by his craft. "Damn...what even is that beauty?" The tiger asked, pointing at his gun.

"Well, it's actually my ol' creation. Me family's known throughout Countryside as a long line of engineers. My pa retired a long time ago...I don't talk about him." Triste explained, his mood turning grim. Joytail turned more interested in Triste's value as the other cats got up, all of them looking around for the Earharted plate. Wraps looked at Triste and hid behind Laxgay, while the bastion approached the cowboy with an odd sense of awe.

Jjhim, however, was shocked into silence as he simply sat, hoping that the behemoth that was Joytail wouldn't crush him. Speak of the devil...

"Hey, angel boy." The turf tiger motioned towards ljhim. "I know I should probably be clobbering you right now...but you have a lot of interesting powers. I wouldn't mind having you on our team!" He continued, despite ljhim's doubtful expression.

"This seems like a setup." He admitted. "What? Look, maybe i probably shouldn't have pumped you full of antidepressants...which i'll explain later...But come on, I know we can become valuable allies! I'm not that abrasive, am i?" He asked with his signature smile, ljhim could tell he was being honest with his wishes, but obviously there was more than a couple things iffy about him...but after a while, he decided that maybe he could risk it, signalled with a nod. "Ayy! There's my boy, I knew you'd turn out in my favor!" He said, reaching in for a meaty hug, which ljhim was 100% sure that would break his spine.

But things felt like they were gonna go smoothly. 


	8. "I'm Sad I Know You" (Or, "Fate Fell Short This Time, pt. 2")

_ 2-2  _

"FUCK!"

The door was kicked open by a lone, marble hoof, connected to roughed up red and white fur. Joytail dropped lihim onto his seat, putting him off guard, before the turf tiger motioned to the angel about the incoming resident.

It was a satyrbun imp, it seemed. He had cheap whiskey in one hand, and a couple of shards of glass embedded in the other, which was holding a duffle bag. His horns were adorned with poppies, his ears in three rows, with one pair acting as a bandana. He walked in a drunk stupor towards the "bar" of the restaurant, hunching over on the stool, blood dripping on it. The servers seemed worried at his presence, but wasn't about to deny service to anyone. They did that enough to Hellsiders back in the day. A timid aurorian fox went up to the decrepit imp.

'H-hello, welcome to Waffle House!" He began. "What would you like today sir? Our world famous waffles?..."

No response.

"Uh...or maybe one of our omelettes? Or a toast sandwich? An ambulance maybe?" He continued. Suddenly, the satyrbun looked up at him, his pupils empty.

"... Two waffles." He asked of him, holding up his hand with two fingers out. His voice seemed to have a decently high timbre, common of imps, but it was coupled with a raspy inflection.

Now, at this point, most of Joytail's table was looking at this strange specimen. Who was he? What kind of scuffle did he get into? Why didn't he get 5 waffles instead of two, like a sane person? Questions they probably were too lazy to actually get answers from. However, something caught the eye of Wraps.

When the mystery demon made his order, he held up his hand in clear display. There were shards in his palm, bright red dripping down from it, and what seemed like bruises on some of his fingers. The rest of his arm too had plenty of cuts, presumably from switchblades. All of this on it's own was bad enough but for Wraps...He couldn't stand it. He had to do something. He got up from his chair, looking back to see the rest of his new companions scared, silently begging him not to get near the Threat Level Red homeless person, which Wraps hesitantly ignored.

Wraps circled around the satyrbun imp, seemingly off in a daze as the hybrid sat next to him. Wraps inspected his arm in more detail. The glass was transparent, and slightly green. These shards seemed to be from a beer bottle, which shocked Wraps a little more than it probably should have. Wraps looked around, realizing how weird the thing he was going to do would look. He saw very few people, other than his friends, having heart attacks over the perceived fate of their ally. The hybrid tiger put the wounded arm into his gelatinous stomach. Almost immediately, the glass shards in his arms dissolved, blood slightly leaking before the clots overtook them. The cuts too, seemed to eradicate itself under the fur. Despite all of this, his dissociative spiral was still in effect... At Least until the imp's order was ready

As the plate of waffles was lumped onto his side of the bar, his hand coiled back from the gooey stomach it was stuck in, turning to the hybrid with a deep stare, not of anger, but of fear. A very acute fear. Immediately, he jumped down to the duffle bag and scrambled through it. Wraps got closer to the imp before being suddenly pushed back...well, on to his back. He crashed onto the tile floor as an aluminum bat was being waved in front of him as a protective measure, causing Luxgay to immediately rise up from his chair. "St-STAY AWAY FROM ME! I don't know what you could've done to me!" The demon called out. Suddenly, a crystalline projectile shot from the other side of the restaurant, brisking past him and ripping a poppy or two from his horns. He turned around almost immediately, an angry glare in his eyes. "You stay away from him or more than those shitty flowers are gonna get ripped off." Luxgay declared.

The imp's posture straightened. He let out some nervous laughter.

A sly grin began to form on his face, albeit drenched in despair.


	9. "30 Hours"

_ 2-3  _

"Fine... You wanna fight?" The demon spat out, ripping out the crystal projectile, enlodged in the travertine. "We'll fight."

The imp tossed the shard up into the air before hitting it with his bat, shooting it at the bastion, who was smart enough to duck down, briskly missing him before shattering onto the floor next to them. Laxgay looked back in shock, and in retaliation, bore his claws and rushed towards the imp, a spark in his eyes. The demon prepared his stanced, and just as the bastion was about to attack him, he pushed on his bat to propel him higher, and kicking Luxgay square in the face, the reaction of this slamming the attacker into the wall, leaving a dent and knocking him on his stomach. Wraps shrieked meekly as the rest of the gathered recruits got up to assess the damages, seeing Laxgay unconscious.

"Oh, YOU GUYS WANT A SCUFFLE TOO? COME ON!” The satyrbun hybrid beckoned.

Joytail got out of his seat, before being stopped by ljhim. "Let me handle this." The saint asked of him."No, you're going to get hurt! Let me-" He begged, before being hit on the head by the plate, thrown by the imp of course. This caused lihim to hesitantly jump to his defense, standing meer feet in front of the attacker, Wraps beckoning with him not to continue fighting.

“Ugh...I've always hated your kind! But you, demon, shalt not see the light of our sun forevermore! Alas, Alas!" He announced, gloriously.

The satyrbun imp was a lot less afraid than lihim probably expected. "...Y'know what I hate? Really shitty speeches. Like, what, how long did you practice that in the mirror? Seriously, you probably watch nothing but anime and thought you could pull off the pre-fight speech thing. Or does The Masked Sun not like Sunside?" The imp rigorously mocked, getting lihim into a seething rage. "Don't you dare compare me to that bastard false idol, you WENCH!" He called out, preparing a massive holy attack. Immediately, The demon's cocky attitude shrunk into shock, as he dashed away from the incoming fuck-you projectile, exploding in a shroud of shades of white, causing numerous objects to fly from their spots, and blasting the satyrbun into the kitchen.

ljhim felt a wash of pride over him, and he walked over and assessed the damages. "Hm... No trace of him. Suits him right." He turned over and motioned to the party members still safe at the table. "He's dealt with, guys!" Joytail seemed oddly happy that the problem was gone, as with Triste. Wraps, however was wracked with anguish, something that lihim noticed all too easily. He knelt down at the gooey hybrid with a solemn expression. "Wraps?..."lihim questioned. He looked at the angel with a choked up expression. "Y-you don't understand...l-He...when i saw him, I saw something deep inside of him. He was so full of... full of te-" He began, before he could hear a loud, primal roar coming from the kitchen, and an increasing volume of metal clinking onto each other.

Suddenly, there were spoons, forks, and knives being hastily thrown from the kitchen door, shocking lihim to his core. "BEGONE, FOUL DEMON, BEGONE!" The assaillant screamed, revealing himself to be the assumed-dead imp, as he scuffled slowly, with an absurdly large pile of silverware being thrown at the angel, assuming it to be a tool of the devil. As the forks were thrown at the angel, he flew back to the table, hiding behind Triste in fear. "I-I-I can't do it, He has too powerful a weapon!" ljhim shrieked.

Triste sighed and got up from his chair, cane-gun in hand. He went up to the imp, holding his pile of silverware, to the clear disapproval of Wraps, trying to motion to the cowboy not to do what he was about to.

"Oh, when i find you, angelboy, you'll be SORRY" He beckoned, before Triste knocked the pile out of his hands with the butt of his gun, and aimed the barrel straight at the face of the demon. "...Oh no." He spat out.

Almost immediately, the satyrbun tried running back to the kitchen like before.

"DON'T!" Wraps called out.

But it was too late.

 

The bullets hit the demon in the side of the leg, causing him to fall down. Triste, with a grin on his face, went into the kitchen, which at this point was evacuated due to the intense fight.

Joytail sat complacent before he heard something odd from the bar. It sounded like...crying. He got up and walked around to find it's source. He jumped into the waitresses area and looked around in there before finding the attacker face down, bleeding from his leg. He was whimpering in fear, two puddles making the wooden floor behind the bar darken in color. As he looked at the behemoth of a turf tiger facing him, the demon slammed the floor with his fist. "Damn it..." He said, sniffing. "I said I'd stop being such a fucking crybaby."

Joytail looked at the dying creature with an oddly neutral expression, like he couldn't figure out how to feel. As this was happening, Wraps had meekly walked into the inside of the bar to find out why Joytail was blankly looking at the floor, before he too found the demon face down on his last limb. He put his hands to his mouth in anguish, before starting to heat up inside. "I saw something inside of him." He said, coldly. Joytail looked up and faced the gooey feline

"H-He was afraid. He was... scared of everyone around him. He... H-He wasn't trying to pick a fight for the sake of it. He picked his fight because he was so afraid. And you remember what he said before all of this happened? He th-thought that I had done something' to him. I-I......" He explained, before pausing and looking at the now-unconscious demon. "I think...someone hurt him. He was hurt inside, and he couldn't risk someone else doing it again." He said, choking up a little bit. Joytail's neutral expression turned into one of fear. He had seen this before.

"...anna." He muttered.

Immediately, Joytail grabbed Wraps by the arm. "Fix him. NOW." He said, a dominance in his voice not seen until now. "I-I don't know if i can fix a wound this big, 1-" He began, before Joytail's grip tightened, frightening the meek feline. "FUCKING DO IT." With fear in his heart, Wraps put the demon's leg into his stomach once more, cleansing it of what wounds it had previously. The lead disintegrated in his body, the blood clots closing the hole in his leq.

 

Before the wound could heal fully, Wraps fell down in exhaustion. Joytail was too busy examining the wound to give Wraps his full attention. The wound now looked more like a scrape you'd see by falling down on concrete. Soon after this, He lightly punched Wraps in the stomach to try and bring him back. He came back soon after, coughing immensely.

"I'm sorry I had to force you like that, it's just..." Joytail began, the poncho'd turf tiger looking at him. "Listen, it's a long story. We'll have to have another meaning just to explain it all, but, knew a girl who was hurt just like this but...now she's gone. This whole search party is about her." The armor cladded feline explained, with Wraps looking at him with genuine interest.

"D-do you think she was taken by The Masked Sun?" A far off voice asked.

The two looked around. It was lihim, still shuddering under the table from the horrors of the spoon. "L-L-Like it says in the book?" He continued.

Joytail thought about it. "I mean, I don't know if The Masked Sun itself did it, but it's possible. I need to look into it. WE need to look into it. I mean...I have no clue where she is." The warlord commented

"Wait, what book?" Wraps asked.

"Well, i was gonna explain it to everyone before this hellion-" Joytail began, before being lightly slapped by the devil. "We don't... We don't appreciate that term. It's Ameer." He continued, still groggy but overall regaining consciousness from the blood-loss. "You are really calm for almost losing all your blood." Wraps commented.

Ameer's widened eyes shot up at Joytail, replacing his depressed cynicism with an almost childlike curiosity and happiness at the thought, his mouth slightly agape. "S-seriously? Even after I beat up your whole clique? You think they'd even want me around?" He asked. Joytail shrugged. "I thought it was entertaining, at least." He said, getting a mean look from Wraps.

Ameer grabbed onto the top of the bar and got up on his two legs, wincing at first, his legs wobbling around before getting more stable as more exposure to the ground was made “nngh... It still kind of hurts." He muttered, before taking a deep breath, and looking around at the mess they made.

"Y'know, I feel like the cops should be here any minute now." Wraps commented. Ameer nodded, and then looked back at Joytail, listening intensely."...Fuck." He finally belted out. "Uh...bro?" Ameer asked.

"IT'S THE FUZZ!" Joytail finally screamed.

Joytail shoved the two into his arms, carrying them up. He then ran to Laxgay and lightly kicked him back into consciousness, before grabbing his neck by arms, carrying him and only giving Laxgay slivers of oxygen as the turf tiger's body ran up and down. Ijhim followed the group as they got to the door. However, as they tugged at the knobs, it didn't move. As they continued, the establishment around them turned into a sepia-toned shade of dark pink, as time itself started to freeze into a stand still. The horns Joytail heard blaring before became slowed down and blurred out, in an odd, glitched, mess.

"What in the gods name is occuring here... DID YOU DO THIS?" lihim screamed, pointing at Ameer, accusatory. Ameer's eyes shot back a mean glare. "Bro, I'm just as confused as you are!" He claimed, looking at Wraps. "Did you bust your goo everywhere and this is the result?" The imp continued.

Wraps started sweating profusely. "N-no, I..." He began, before kneeling down and knocking on the floor with his hand. "The floors are completely solid. They've lost all texture, this isn't goo at all!" Ameer looked at both with an odd look. "Ok, this is fucked up-Joytail, stop fucking with the doorknob, you know that shit isn't gonna work!" He reprimanded. In fact, Joytail had kept attempting to pry the door open, desperation in his muscles.

Suddenly, the monochromatic tones in the room where lit up by a large, sparkly ball. There, a bizarre creature materialized. It looked like a six-legged dog, but one of those dogs with a pushed-in face that old women carry around like babies. It's fur was bright pink, it had a purple horn emerging from the center of its forehead, and, most concerning, its buttocks were pronounced and hairless, like that of an old world monkey. The creature touched down on the ground in front on them, it's tail wafting down like a feather boa, and it looked to the other creatures that were staring at it, giggle-eyed. The strange pink creature spoke "What, were you expecting The Good Witch of the North?" It said, in a somewhat effeminate, nasally voice.

lihim immediately prepared some holy energy to aim at the new creature. "BACK YOU CURR. BEFORE YOU BECOME DEMON BACKWASHI" He said, in a glorious voice.

Ameer put his hand on Ijhim's hand, lowering it. "Please don't." The imp asked of his contemporary. In a quick succession, Joytail put his hand on lihim's shoulders, with a smile on his face. "No, PLEASE DO." The warlord pressured, before being cut off by Wraps, asking a demand of the newly appeared creature. "Y-You better not try to do some weird fetishy rape stuff."

"What do I look like Kevin Spacey to you?" asked the creature. "Timely reference, right? The readers will love it!" His voice, flamboyant and shrill, was dripping with sarcasm. He pulled up his bottom legs and sat mid-air , crossing them like a pretzel. "Calm yourselves, darlings, calm yourselves. I'm not gonna hurt ya," he smirked, "unless you ask nicely. I'm here to help you out Now would you like to listen to what I have to say, or are you gonna keep threatening me with becoming demon mouthwash or whatever?"

"...I don't know who that." Ameer started, before being cut off by Joytail, lightly shoving both Ameer and ljhim away. "Well, i'm fairly sure we don't need your help, gentleman." He growled. "I know we probably have no use for you." He said, obviously lying. He looked back at ljhim, still holding the Opius, the special tome. The warlord felt like this creature had something to do with The Masked Sun, but his fear made him not want to question it.

"Mmmmm, are you suuuuure about that?" asked the creature, now rolling onto his back, still floating. "Because I think you do. Come on, now, sweeties, don't be shy." He rolled back over, and sat upright, smacking the side of his head with one of his hand-paws. "Oh, silly me, I didn't even introduce myself! The name is Shmoopy Pooperpus, inter-dimensional being and dispenser of exposition, how do you do?" He offered both of his right hands towards the group.

Most of the group shaked the oddity's hand slowly, first Ameer, than lihim, then Wraps, and then Laxgay, after Wraps lifted the unconscious bastion's hand for him, and then Triste, muttering country-isms. Joytail..wasn't so convinced. He raised his hand from the multi-limb'd creature.

"I think you're hiding something from us. There's something you know that I don't. That none of us know. And you better spill it before something bad happens." He spat, with a saltiness only akin to the Lord of the Fries.

"Oh, I know a lot of things you don't know," said Shmoopy. "You just need to ask me the right questions."

Joytail's face turned to somewhat of a grimace.

"Alright...fine, i'll play along. Why us specifically? You could've probably picked any other person in the classified." He asked, Ameer looked at him oddly. "You know, I could probably use that same logic-" He began, before a finger was met to the imp's mouth.

"Because," said Shmoopy, "you're the protagonists of this story."

"T-T-That doesn't even make any sense!" The warlord turf tiger spat out in a daze. "And on top of that..." Wraps started.

"Why did you appear now? If your proposal is so important you could've started when we actually began the Waffle House meeting instead of after Ameer trashed everything. What's his importance?" He continued.

"Yeah! Because I'm really not that important. At all." Ameer noted from the sidelines.

"The classical hero always thinks they aren't important," said Shmoopy. "They're just an average Joe, down-on-their-luck, nothing's ever gonna go their way, and then, boom! A call to action, like, say, a fracas in a Waffle House." Shmoopy was flitting and swimming through the air like a fish, around the group and gesticulating with all four of his arms. "And I'm appearing now as a herald, because that's how the story goes. Somebody's got to put you on the road to your journey, and that somebody happens to be me."

"Y-you talk to us as if w-we're just pawns in a massive game!" Wraps cried out, a slight tear in his voice, causing Ameer to get a bit fiesty.

"Y'know WHAT?" He clamored, pushing Joytail away and walking in front of him, much to the turf tiger's chagrin. "Maybe we'd be more for your plan if you weren't so goddamn obtuse. What about this dork and his clan of dickfucks, including me, interests you so much?" He boisterously claimed, before looking back at the group, a slight grimace on all of their faces.

"I say that as a compliment, mind."

Shmoopy appeared unphased by this outburst. "Tell me," he said, cradling his face with one paw, "if you had a chance to completely change your world, what would you change?"

Ameer shuddered. Physical contact like that made him anxious of what would happen. He began to speak before being cut off by Wraps.

"L...I wish m-my parents would actually notice me. They just shut me out because of what I was born as. I've been homeless for so long, L.L..." He began. "It just makes me want to quit everything, knowing the people who protected me for so long can't connect to me anymore." The hybrid continued. Immediately, Triste shot his attention to the forefront.

"Y-yeah, me too! My dad was...is such a dick! He wouldn't even let me get a job before I met you guys! And my mother is too submissive to call him out, so he just beats on me whenever he gets the chance." He admitted, before looking at Laxgay, and pushing him in the head, waking from his lack of consciousness.

"Wha... Wait, what's happening? WHAT THE FUCK?" He called out, looking at the odd creature, then at the rest of the gang, and then his pink surroundings. Wraps went up to him, and put his hands on his shoulders.

"L-Laxy, calm down...a lot of stuff happened when you got knocked out by Ameer...who's in the group for some reason." He calmly mentioned, clashing with Laxgay's crazed response. "Wha-WHY?" He quacked out, looking at Shmoopy, giving a shrug.

"Listen, I'll explain it later. Just look at this thing, and tell him what's the one thing you'd change in your life." Wraps continued. Laxgay's manic fervor slowed down, wrestling free from the pits of Joytail.

"...I want to be free. All my adult life, I've been chained to my sexual desires, desires I've barely even wanted. But now, that's gonna change!" He started, gaining an odd sense of freedom. "And. And if i ever see someone in the same situation i was? I'd... I'd free them! I'd free them from their abuses!" He called out, a slight cheer from the group. Shmoopy then looked at lihim.

"This feels like a deal with a daemon." ljhim feared, before going on. "I was sent here. From the gods, I believe, in a world that doesn't believe in thee. I want to crusade through the Floraverse and spread it's gospel. I want to succeed in my purposes." He continued.

Shmoopy giggled slightly, before looking at Joytail.

"There's...a girl. I don't know where she is. She doesn't know who I am. I want to find her and get her to remember me. That's... That's what this whole search party's about." Joytail admitted, The crowd, getting a aura of mystery.

"Like, we used to be sweethearts, but suddenly, she disappeared. I met her in my studies and she freaked out when I tried to talk to her. I got a book from the angel that says The Masked Sun, whatever that is, caused it. And now. this is my last ditch effort."

Shmoopy looked at him with a sense of accomplishment, before looking at Ameer, his head down. He slowly looked up at the odd creature, with a vengeance of anger, slowly shaking.

"...I want to find the people who made my life hell. If this big motherfucker's right, and that Masked Sun is responsible for all this terrible stuff...I want to find them. I want to make them pay. And if i find out that you're part of any of it." He said, lightly poking Shmoopy in the chest. "...I won't bet on you being alright for a while." He groaned.

"Sounds like you all have some very interesting character motivations," said Shmoopy, seemingly still unphased by Ameer's threats. "But what if I told you, that this 'Masked Sun' figure, is the cause of all your troubles? And confronting the Masked Sun will not only fix your problems, but also fix your entire universe?" He continued.

Immediately, all eyes turned to the flamboyant creature. hints of confusion, and wonder, and dread, and so many other things rose into their hearts.

"... Maybe lihim is right. This does seem like a devil deal..." Joytail began.

"Oh, I'm glad you're talking sense-"lihim began.

"But it's a deal i'm willing to take."

"H-Hey, let's not be so cantankerous-" lihim began, before being cut off by Laxgay

"Yeah, I'm willing to take that." He commented.

"I mean...this seems like a gamble but, with all that's at stake it's not like I can decline." Wraps said, next to him.

"I done-n't really have a place to go home to anyways, but this all seems rather important to Countryside." Triste commented, holding his gun up high.

"I'll join in, but the moment that this guy gets any more shady, I'm out." Ameer said.

ljhim, feeling the defeat of the 5v1 about to commence if he objected, silently nodded his head.

"So... What's the deal?" Joytail asked.

"The plan is simple," said Shmoopy, slyly. "You need to find and kill Jupet."

The room slowly eased into fear mixed with tension. "W-We don't even know who that person is? Why would we kill them?" Ameer choked out.

"They're writing this story," said Shmoopy. "Now, normally, you'd have to go on an actual journey with rising action and have a character arc by the end of it, but apparently, somebody's deciding they wanna take some shortcuts rather than go through all that crap."

Shmoopy appeared to side-eye someone that wasn't there for a moment, and continued.

"That's about all I can tell you for now," he said. "I can't give too much away, now, it'd kill the dramatic tension. So, good luck, my little protagonists, and remember," he winked, "watch out for moles."

And with that, Shmoopy and the dimensional bubble he'd brought with them vanished with a dull popping sound.

As the bubble popped, the magenta covering of the world around them turned into a seething light. Ameer covered his face in his hands, Joytail in his arms, Laxgay and Wraps in eachother, and Triste didn't nothing at all.

The floor changed it's shape and scope as the wood grain dissolved into grass, and as the walls seemed to dissipate, the world revealed around itself. This "Shmoopy" character must've relocated the group in a forest.

"...I Guess that this is where this. "Jupet" character is?" Wraps asked. Ameer shrugged. "If it's not, we're gonna have a problem." He replied. Joytail cleared his throat and his thoughts.

"Alright, let me get your attention. As the presumed head of this group, we're going to have to make shelter here. I know food is probably short in stock, unless Ighim over there can cook up some holy cheeseburgers." He said.

"It's lihim, actually...but I can materialize communion wafers!" He said, Joytail looked at him with an odd look, but ultimately showing some signs of approval. "Hey, that's something! Maybe I can put a bit of meat between it." He said with a grin, making lihim feel gracious.

"Hopefully we don't have to hunt animals for meat...I could never handle that." Wraps bemoaned, "I doubt we'll be here for that long." Joytail assured, Wraps exhaling relief in response.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get some fuckin' LUMBER!" Laxgay called out, some of the party cheering.


	10. "Nether Regional At Best"

2-4 

A couple hours had passed. The blue sky had been replaced with a black emptinesses. A medium sized fire could be seen from deep in the forest. Joytail sat, staring at the fire. Most of the party did the same. "Welp...I can't go to sleep." Joytail commented, almost entirely nonchalantly, as if it was a mainstay in his life.

"Me neither." Laxgay commented.

"God, this shit is so nerve-wracking there's no WAY that I can just doze off after THAT." Ameer called out. Wraps, ljhim, and Triste however, were sound asleep.

Joytail sighed.

**Beat.**

"I hope that this deal doesn't fuck us over." Laxgay commented. Both Joytail and Ameer shot their attention onto him. "What, you mean the mutli-colored purple prick?" Ameer asked. "I doubt it can be THAT harmful. After all, fluffbutt had a severe lack of damaging spells in his range." He mocked."

"No, not like that. I'm talking like, if we're gonna get double-crossed." Laxgay corrected, garnering a miffed facial expression from Ameer. Joytail turned to Laxgay, thinking.

"Well, actually that's a decent concern. But I'm pretty sure us as a unit are stronger than them." Joytail. "You say that, but what if the thing that this dork is part of is much bigger than just this particular rando?" Laxgay admitted. "I just think we should train a little bit more before we start our rampage on this-"

SNAP.

Laxgay shot up, his head turning around almost in a second's length. Joytail eyes widened and Ameer's stance straightened in fear. "Something's following us." He immediately shot up. "Ameer, don't be ridiculous." Joytail commented.

Laxgay slowly inched closer to where he thought the twig's breaking was heard, leaves rustling as it's soundtrack. "Laxgay. LAX. LAXXY. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, DON'T GET CLOSER TO IT." Ameer whispered through gritted teeth. Laxgay ignored him, much to Ameer's vexation.

The bastion put his hand into one of the surrounding bushes, and felt around, initially feeling nothing

"I guess it was nothing" Laxgay said, before his hand was gripped by an odd hand. Laxgay shot his vision back to the bush. It was brown and furry, with retractable claws. A masked face rose from the bushes, having a static expression, with five openings, four being "eyes", stacking on eachother, one being more slim compared to the other pair below, and the other being a mouth of sorts. Laxgay's shrieks gave off an echo across the timberland, waking up Triste.

"Wha...OH SHIT IT'S AN EAGLE!" He called out, grabbing some rocks near the fear and turning them into gears, and putting them in the gun.

The mystery creature revealed shards of itself in the midst of the fire as it took flight. It's feathers were pure brown, it's underbelly covered in moss and flowers. Triste took his shot, but because he's a fucking idiot he only managed to scuff the creature's face, causing the mask on his face to fall off, and the creature to lose flight momentum, slamming into a bush, and knocking Laxgay back, but this time, as he felt his ass slam into the grass, he remained conscious.

The mystery creature revealed shards of itself in the midst of the fire as it took flight. It's feathers were pure brown, it's underbelly covered in moss and flowers. Triste took his shot, but because he's a fucking idiot he only managed to scuff the creature's face, causing the mask on his face to fall off, and the creature to lose flight momentum, slamming into a bush, and knocking Laxgay back, but this time, as he felt his ass slam into the grass, he remained conscious.

"God, this little rat is really good at getting into bushes." Ameer started, before getting tackled by the bird creature, his gaping jowls ready to cause harm. Contrary to the mask's design, he only had two large, glowing eyes, his beak being much like a barn owl's. Ameer retaliated by whacking the dangerous specimen in the head with his trusty bat, causing him to recoil and fall off next to him, shielding his head with his wings.

"SIC EM, BOYS!" Ameer screamed, causing Wraps to slowly wake up.

Laxgay readied crystalline energies and aimed it at the avian creature, presumably planning to kill it. Slowly, as his sights were shot on the odd bird, Wraps got up in a languid state just as Laxgay fired his shot. The crystals absorbed into Wraps' body, and gave him just the jolt he needed to gain knowledge of his surroundings.

"I th-thought we were over this s-s-senseless violence!" He gasped out.

Wraps rushed towards the seemingly lifeless body and look for all it's injuries, mainly consisting of some scars, a gash on its face, and other miscellaneous wounds

"Aw, what the heck are you doing..Joytail? Triste bemoaned, before turning to Joytail. As Wraps began to began his healing process, Joytail's jovial persona shifted to fear, and he rushed towards the gooey tiger, aiming his antidepressant-consumed tail at the healer.

As he began to meld his gooey body into the avian, an odd blue liquid started to swirl around his body. Joytail was initially confused, before realizing that Wrap's lack of an organic body means that he can't be hurt with normal attacks. "Crap..." He called out. Laxgay looked at him, and then the blue swirls in his body, still healing the owl creature.

"Wh-What the..." Wraps began, before noticing how the creature was reacting to the combination of his goo and Joytail's drug. He began to twitch somewhat, before his muscles loosened from their violent attitudes minutes ago. His face turned from primal instinct to desperate pity. He began to mutter actual comprehensible words.

"I .......Ju...pe...Trou..." He gasped. Triste jumped up, noticing his words.

"He-He's TALKING ABOUT THE TROUPE! And the frickin' target of our assassination! What's their name... Jungle? Jingle? Jupite." Triste began, before being lightly slapped by Ameer.

"It's JUPET, you dork." He began, before turning to Joytail. “Joytits, quick, try shaking him up a little bit." The imp continued.

Joytail grabbed the fowl by the shoulders and waved him around, trying to jog his brain. "HelloCityside to random bird! Wakey wakey, Eggs and Blue Baby!" His results only slightly improved.

"Fores...destruction...PK...drugged..." He mumbled. Joytail, increasing in his miffed status as he only got minimal results with his desires. He decided to, fairly lightly, slap the owl across the face, only now seeming to awaken from his mental slumber.

"-DRUGGING US AND DESTROYING THE LAND!"

The creature finally spoke. The timbre of his voice was an echo-y whisper, somehow lacking the volume qualities of a whisper. Joytail, in a shock, dropped him as he fell on his bottom, looking around the motley crew of creatures, responding in internal fear instead of published anger as Ameer, Wraps, and Laxgay still had their weaponry on their standby, Triste holding his gun firm in his hand.

"What? Who?" Ameer started, suddenly facing the owl.

"Y-You work for them!" The owl called out.

"What? No we aren't, our boss is a single guy, you're thinking of some Troupe of dickheads." Laxgay mentioned. Wraps went up next to him, leaning on his shoulders. "Besides, we don't have enough equipment to destroy a forest like that."

"We're here to assassinate a Jupet." Joytail declared. "Some pink and purple dorkhead decided to enlist us to kill a government official due to really convoluted reasons. But if my summary is correct, the government has an exorbitant amount of power that needs to be ridden of." He sustained.

The word "Jupet" caused the bird to shake in his metaphorical boots. "Oh...Jupet...T-The St-Stolas scared of Jupet." he continued, presumably giving his name.

"Well, what does Jupet do? Are they the one destroying your land?" Triste investigated.

"Yes...Th-They go into our villages and mess with our beautiful trees and crops. They capture a bunch of us Stolas and turn them to vicious monsters with their evil LSED drugs, and sometimes they...they ra...they ra-" Stolas began, before breaking down into a series of shivers and light tears.

The party could tell what Stolas meant.

"So...what's an LSED drug?" Laxgay asked, desperate to change the subject. "Yeah, I know all about drugs and even I don't know anything about those." Joytail commented.

"Yes, you...the big tiger helped me recover from my reanimation of rage. LSED, i think, stands for Lethargic Sanity Exploit Drug. I don't know what it means, but, it turns people into evil, monsters of destruction. They drug us in secret, and unleash us back into the forest, and I hear they put our rage on the news channels, to frame us!" Stolas explained, to the horror of the party.

"God damn it..." Joytail said, with gritted teeth. “...When do they usually strike?" he asked, surprising the group.

"Well, usually in the dawn of the morning-day. Obviously, now, it's night, but maybe we could get you to my village to prepare attacks on...on Jupet!" He began, a rare smile brushed on his face.

"And plus, if this blue splooge in his tail is what cured you, maybe he could cure some of your other bird friends." Ameer said. Stolas looked at him, a slight surprise on his face. "Stolas prefer AVIAN friends." he commented. Ameer lightly chuckled. "Alright, I'll keep it in mind." He conceded.

"So, how are we gonna get to your village?" Wraps asked. "I really wanna see it." He continued.

"Well, you can see it from a bird's eye view, but you can't get through with just a stroll from the forest. Jupet has some Stolas do their bidding, and they give them directions." Stolas commented. "So.. We need a good group of fliers." he resumed. The group of looked around, and then at the still sleeping lihim.

"...How the hell is he still sleeping after all of this?" Laxgay commented, before he walked up to the angel cat and shoved him heavily."

"Wha-WHO GOES THERE-" He began, before his cheeks were put in a silencing chokehold by Laxgay's hand.

"Look. You see that bird? That's Stolas. Our target is messing up their forests and therefore wants to take us to their village to take out Jupet. That's the extremely abridged version, keep in mind, but we need you to help him fly and carry all of us to the village." Laxgay explained, before lihim swatted away his hand from his mouth.

"You could've decreed that without forcing my cheeks into a conundrum." He called out. "But yes, I will help this poor bird, as long as you explain everything with more detail on the trip." lihim continued

Laxgay looked satisfied, and turned to the group with a thumbs up, causing applause from them.

"However, we might need a third flier, to carry everything else. Stolas can only carry two people, and I doubt your ljhim can carry your friend with his toe beans." He said, with lihim nodding as confirmation

"I can do it!" Ameer said, doing a criss-cross applesauce sort of meme. "You don't seem to have any wings, Cityslicker." Triste commented.

Ameer chuckled, as the odd scarf around his neck, which had gone unnoticed until now, unfolded. It revealed his three sets of ears. He pushed them down as he removed himself from his position, jumping up high, and floating slightly, before falling on his hooves, slightly wincing due to previous injuries

"Sometimes I try to full on fly with these, but I screw it up. But I can use these to jump higher!" He notified.

"As a courier for our supplies, I doubt that he'd be a terrible utility." Wraps mentioned to Stolas, who nodded. "Yes, This will work." He commented. "Now move, quickly! Before sun rises to us!" He began, flying up and grabbing Joytail and Triste by their shoulder, gripped on tight, and flew up to the sky, shocking both of them. Ijhim took notice and held onto Wraps and Laxgay and took flight in Stolas's direction. Ameer quickly got rid of the fire they prepared, took all of the items they left behind, and flied as best as he could towards the party.


	11. "Cityside Is For Lovers."

_ 2-5  _

It took a good hour or so for the party to reach the village. To pass the time, they simply talked (or yelled, depending on how far away) to Stolas about the culture he had been apart of it. He told rich stories of holidays, tradition, and the happy home he lived in with his elders. But when they arrived to the village, dim fluorescent lights of a green shade circling the insides of the sheltered town, the atmosphere made Stolas seem delusional.

The three jetsetters and four passengers soon landed at the entrance, the welcome sign showing cycles of being broken and eing rebuilt, confirming the town of Abaeti's location. It was guarded by three creatures of the same species of Stolas, but with longer fur and makeshift armour. One, a more middle of the road temper female, was with light beige color, while the larger one had much more elaborate armour and grey fur, while a seemingly weaker one had the least, and had white fur. All of them still had their stomach covered in moss.

"Stolas. Explain yourself."

"WHY ARE THESE SIX OUTSIDERS HERE?"

“Do as they say."

They all said in unison.

"You three have to let me in. These six are the keys to our salvation from Jupet." Stolas demanded. The three looked at eachother with seemingly genuine fear. The largest one went up to the avian, and looked at him dead in the eye.

"...DON'T LET US DOWN. YOU ARE PERMITTED TO ENTER." He growled.

The three let the entrance open, as the seven party members made their way through the dilapidated village. A majority of the huts they used as housing were broken down, and the ones that were had their doors firmly shut the faces looking out the window in fear, gloom taking over the facial features.

"Man, these guys really messed up your villages." Joytail commented, with no answer from Stolas. The reply, however, would've been obvious.

"So...where you takin' us, foreign one?" Triste commented. "To the elder. The only remaining one. If he dies, we have to scramble to find a new one with an election." Stolas explained.

"I assume it's the bigger hut over there?" Laxgay said, pointing out a large, more colorful hut they were nearing. Stolas nodded. "This is the village hall. We decide everything here." He commented. Stolas took his talon and knocked on the door. He could hear rustling of covers. "Come in." A gravelly voice called out, still drenched in a reverb.

Stolas slowly opened the door, the six outsiders clearly in view. "Who are these nonmembers, boy?" He said, in a slight comedic tense.

"Stolas, we tried teaching you littluns not to talk to strangers." He continued, as he got up from his bed. His feathers were gray, his mask somewhat similar to Stolas', but with a mark on the top, and tears from the two eyes on his masks, instead of Stolas' four, and had a velvet rope covering his wings.

“Elder Hotelias I... We're here to save the Abeti village." Stolas declared, a fear in his step. The grogginess from the elder melted away with his announcement. "What. What are you talking about? These guys are gonna save us from the outside demons?" He questioned. "Yeah. Cmon guys, tell him." Stolas motioned to the party.

"Well, it's simply really. We were given a hit order on a Jupet. I take it you know who they are." Joytail started, with a familiar convivial tone. "Yes...That ovis demon. They've ruined the sense of protection our village wanted to establish across the woodlands." Hotelias bemoaned.

"Well, what I know is that they've been turning your villagers into savages, and going on the news to act like it was your fault alone. Well, I've made the cure for it." He began, starting to sound like an infomercial salesman.

"This?" Joytail said, holding up his tail. This is EUPHORIA. It's a mega psychotropic / antidepressant combo, and it's a counter to the LSED drugs Jupet is using to turn your subjects into caca hellions." He said, an unnatural happiness coming from talking about his creation, ignored by Hotelias's shocked expression.

"With this, and my good buddy-pal-chum-friend Wraps' natural healing powers, we managed to cure one of your...avian friends." He said, pointing to Stolas.

"Wha...Stolas, they infected you?" the elder said in an obvious shock. "Yeah, I was investigating what was making everything go crazy, and they caught me as just as I found out. They injected me with a bunch of stuff, and in my rage, something told me to attack these guys." The avian explained.

The elder tried keeping his head. It seemed to good to be true.

"Well...it's very miracious...but can you defeat Jupet? I mean...they put up a mean fight." Elder Hotelias commented. “They have much more machinery than you."

"Well, with my good friends, I doubt she can fight us. She attacks your kind usually every sunrise, right?" Joytail asked. "Y-yes, they do." The elder confirmed.

"Well, you've got a team of people willing to take her down." Joytail said, motioning toward his comrades. They all gave their respect in some way. Triste tipped his hat, Laxgay and Wraps bowed, but still holding hands, lihim gave a small salute, and Ameer shook his hand.

*These people, are you sure they can handle the machines that Jupet has in their disposal?"

"We're sure of it-" Joytail began, before being cut off by Ameer. "WE'RE GONNA KICK THEIR SHILL ASSI" The imp proclaimed, causing the elder to chuckle.

"Alright... I trust you. Get ready, The sun comes up in a few hours. Make haste, outsiders."

 

Those few hours felt like a mild eternity. Their plan was simple: Hide in a trench, wait for Jupet, and reveal themselves gloriously. However, none of them were specifically good at digging, and they gave up halfway, replacing the trench with a very small hole, that the party was forced to insert themselves into, squishing into each other's body, creating an unnatural experience for all of them as flesh, fur, and feathers melded together in pressure. Grunts, gasps, and gripes, all made it sound very odd indeed, which, in hindsight, was a terrible strategy considering they wanted to have a dramatic entrance.

As the sun began to come up, they tried to minimize the attention they were giving to themselves, with mild results. At first, nothing happened. The silence was somewhat deafening, as Stolas kept himself in isolated fear between the bodies of his companions.

"You'd think this Jupet guy would come by now. That sun seems...pretty rised." Ameer spat, leading Laxgay to chuckle, much to the rest's chagrin.

"Be patient, dude." Joytail muttered. "I want to beat this thing's ass as much as the next guy, but I doubt these guys can teleport...Hey, Stolas, how does this Jupet character travel from there to here?" He continued, turning too Stolas. Or atleast, as close as he could, but was met with a whimpering silence.

 

This continued into the burning day, before a sound could be heard. The mechanical stomping echoed through the forest. None of the party could see how the village was reacting, but they could hear it. Mothers were crying for presumably their children in unknown languages, guards were running to their defensive posts, tapping talonsteps rumbling through everything in the earth.

"I-I-I C...I can't do this, they're gonna make me go crazy again." The avain cried out, holding himself and shivering. “P-Pardner, you have to!" Triste cried out. "If we don't do this, then more of your village is going to turn into monsters. Do you want that?" Joytail demanded. "N-no..." Stolas said, defeated. "Good. Because we're gonna bedazzle these motherfuckers and I want you to join in." He offered, before peeking out of his hole.

Joytail could see a tiny UFO like creation. It jumped around in a tray with every stomp! connected by wires. Six mechanical spider-like arms stormed through the forest, covered in yellow and black stripes, piercing through dirt. As it waltzed into the village, almost crushing the home of the elder, the machine looked around, a clearing of the throat before speech through a PA System, an oscilloscope playing in time.

"WHERE ARE THOSE GOD DANG CHICKENS?" Boomed the machine.

The voice was...odd. It was clearly pitch-shifted, but it talked as if it were a cat, or some anime creature. Joytail was confused, that such a simple voice could come out of the booming mechanical monster. However, It also gave him courage to move forward. This can't be too much of a challenge if a buffoon like this person could get such a giant contraption. He got out of the ditch, and motioned the rest of the group to say put until later.

It didn't take long for the machine to notice the turf tiger's presence. In almost an instant, The two arms shot near his neck, stopping just in time. Joytail stood silent and serene. "YOU! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" The machine boomed.

Joytail coughed lightly, and pointed at the monster.

"You have been terrorizing this village for far too long. I will take it upon myself to stop you... No...WE will take it upon ourselves to stop you." He bellowed, his voice raised. Soon, Triste jumped out of the pit, running in an awkward manner. "WOO DOGGY, I'M GLAD I CAME TO WORK STRAPPED!" He screamed out, holding his crafted shotgun in a glory. "I WILL SHOOT YOU, THEN I'LL SHOOT YOU AGAIN!" He continued, enjoying the thrill of the acclamation.

Laxgay and Wraps came together, holding each others hand in an assuredly heterosexual manner, and stopping behind Triste. "Ok, 1, 2, 3..." Laxgay motioned Wraps.

"We may be homeless!" They started together. "And we may have no money! But that doesn't mean we can't beat your ass, as punishment for your crimes of these people!"

lihim and Stolas flew out together, placing eachother in the middle of Laxgay and Wraps, much to their chagrin. "We fly through the night, kicking justice into the hearts of villainous curs like yourself!" ljhim proclaimed. "Uh... WHAT HE SAID!" Stolas blurted out, too cautious to create his opening lines, causing a sigh from Joytail.

Ameer was the last one to fight, flying high and dropping in the center of the group, clearly trying to look flashy. He shot a glare at the robot, shuddered in fear slightly, and then sucked it up.

"I'm gonna have..."

He looked around, the rest of the group egging him on to say something.

"I'm gonna have to catch those hands."

The rest of the group cheered in affirmation

"WE ARE DEFENDING THIS VILLAGE, AND WHOOPING YOUR ASS!"

The group said in unison.

This continued into the burning day, before a sound could be heard. The mechanical stomping echoed through the forest. None of the party could see how the village was reacting, but they could hear it. Mothers were crying for presumably their children in unknown languages, guards were running to their defensive posts, tapping talonsteps rumbling through everything in the earth.

"I-I-I C...I can't do this, they're gonna make me go crazy again." The avain cried out, holding himself and shivering. “P-Pardner, you have to!" Triste cried out. "If we don't do this, then more of your village is going to turn into monsters. Do you want that?" Joytail demanded. "N-no..." Stolas said, defeated. "Good. Because we're gonna bedazzle these motherfuckers and I want you to join in." He offered, before peeking out of his hole.

Joytail could see a tiny UFO like creation. It jumped around in a tray with every stomp! connected by wires. Six mechanical spider-like arms stormed through the forest, covered in yellow and black stripes, piercing through dirt. As it waltzed into the village, almost crushing the home of the elder, the machine looked around, a clearing of the throat before speech through a PA System, an oscilloscope playing in time.

"WHERE ARE THOSE GOD DANG CHICKENS?" Boomed the machine.

The voice was...odd. It was clearly pitch-shifted, but it talked as if it were a cat, or some anime creature. Joytail was confused, that such a simple voice could come out of the booming mechanical monster. However, It also gave him courage to move forward. This can't be too much of a challenge if a buffoon like this person could get such a giant contraption. He got out of the ditch, and motioned the rest of the group to say put until later.

It didn't take long for the machine to notice the turf tiger's presence. In almost an instant, The two arms shot near his neck, stopping just in time. Joytail stood silent and serene. "YOU! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" The machine boomed.

Joytail coughed lightly, and pointed at the monster.

"You have been terrorizing this village for far too long. I will take it upon myself to stop you... No...WE will take it upon ourselves to stop you." He bellowed, his voice raised. Soon, Triste jumped out of the pit, running in an awkward manner. "WOO DOGGY, I'M GLAD I CAME TO WORK STRAPPED!" He screamed out, holding his crafted shotgun in a glory. "I WILL SHOOT YOU, THEN I'LL SHOOT YOU AGAIN!" He continued, enjoying the thrill of the acclamation.

Laxgay and Wraps came together, holding each others hand in an assuredly heterosexual manner, and stopping behind Triste. "Ok, 1, 2, 3..." Laxgay motioned Wraps.

"We may be homeless!" They started together. "And we may have no money! But that doesn't mean we can't beat your ass, as punishment for your crimes of these people!"

lihim and Stolas flew out together, placing eachother in the middle of Laxgay and Wraps, much to their chagrin. "We fly through the night, kicking justice into the hearts of villainous curs like yourself!" ljhim proclaimed. "Uh... WHAT HE SAID!" Stolas blurted out, too cautious to create his opening lines, causing a sigh from Joytail.

Ameer was the last one to fight, flying high and dropping in the center of the group, clearly trying to look flashy. He shot a glare at the robot, shuddered in fear slightly, and then sucked it up.

"I'm gonna have..."

He looked around, the rest of the group egging him on to say something.

"I'm gonna have to catch those hands."

The rest of the group cheered in affirmation

"WE ARE DEFENDING THIS VILLAGE, AND WHOOPING YOUR ASS!"

The group said in unison.

"WHA-HOW IS THIS HAPPENING! THERE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE ANY WITNESSES! WE HAD THE NEWS MEDIA, AND THE... THE...HOW?" Jupet said, on the verge of tears. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"

"Well, you see, your former slave here clued us in that you were drugging these poor animals into doing your biddings." Joytail began, pointing to Stolas, a shiver in his step. After that Joytail got furious and demanded to know how often you attack our village. Our elder told him every sunrise, and he immediately proposed that we fight you." He continued.

The machine burst out a nervous laughter. "HAHAHA! HOW FERVOROUS! YOU THINK YOU CAN BEAT ME IN A FIGHT? WITH MY MALICIOUS MECHANIZED CREATION, OR MY WAR-DACIOUS, WICKED WITS? TRY AND GET IN A FIGHT, AND FACE THE MORTAL CONSEQUENCESI" The machine operator declared. Jupet flicked a couple switches, and their machine primed for action. The arms grew chainsaw-like appendages on it's sides, and the machine's waist loosed up, spinning around itself. This looked bad. Stolas' gulps turned hoarser Ameer's grip of the bat ever-so-slightly loosened. But Joytail showed no signs of fear. It's not that he felt it not, but knew that this was just a roadblock in his larger goals.

He needed her.


	12. "Catch Me Outside"

2-6 

ljhim boosted himself up with his wings, flying around the killing contraption at darting speeds. Jupet fell for the fairly obvious trap, as they swung at the angelic feline in an undeveloped manner. The group took the initiative left behind by lihim and went to work. They cornered the machine, as if they were entrenched in a children's circle dance.

Joytail beat up on any arm he could reach, which was hard as, in the attempt to catch ljhim, Jupet was in a constant state of motion. Their robot's appendages were constantly jumping up and down, but whenever he did get a hit, the turf tiger left many a dent.

Laxgay had an easier chance of fighting the machine with effects, as he shot minigun-esque shards of crystals and diamonds, glamorous and glorified shades everpresent, which where caught and chucked back by Stolas, who was flying around in a similar scenario to ljhim, to Triste, who shot his aim at various parts of the tinted windows.

Wraps...just kinda stood around. He was meant to be on guard in case one of the party was injured, or worse, infected by LCED drugs. He followed the party, but as a medic he could only do so much... But now, that he thought about it, they weren't doing that damage to Jupet in the first place! This plan had been going on for, what, 5 minutes? But this felt like an eternity. They had only done mild damage to the craft, that it could very clearly handle, since the craft Jupet piloted was still moving around just as well as it did before. They couldn't keep this going for long. They just couldn't. They needed an outlier.

Then, Wraps realized something was...missing. A factor of the squad wasn't quite there. He looked throughout the fight scene, like one of those Where's Waldo books. Everybody seemed to be in it's right place. but something seemed...missing.

"God, this thing's withstanding everything we got! We have to incapacitate it harder than this!" Joytail said, trying to land punches.

"I already got it!" A voice called out.

Then Wraps realized what was missing.

"AMEER!" He called out. Everybody paid more attention to Jupet's crafted weapon. As it turned around, lihim and Stolas continuing their flight, they could see Ameer clinging for a dear doe's life, holding on to the backside of Jupet's construction.

"HE WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME?" Joytail screamed, looking at Triste, shrugging. "I thought that feller was just part of the plan!" He commented, still shooting at the tinted glass. Joytail dragged his head into his arms in anger.

Ameer beat at the backside of the construction with his bat. As he beat, some of the bolts were forcefully loosening the grips they had. As he did this, he looked at Stolas, throwing crystals at Triste for the cowboy to turn into ammo for his own creation. Suddenly, the imp got an idea. Ameer started to wave his arms, mouthing words. Stolas, after quite a while, noticed Ameer. As soon as theirs eyes started to meet, he screamed "Crystal" and pointed at himself. As deranged as he looked, Stolas decided to cave in to the demand.

As soon as he got his next crystal from Laxgay, he chucked it at Ameer. As it flew, the satyrbun grabbed the beautiful gem with one hand, but almost fell. He acted with haste, immediately slamming it into the metal, causing a plate to cave in, causing the bolts to fly out of the casing at once. When Ameer looked, there were 6 large tubes, each numbers in spray-painted stencil font. He grabbed two of them, and pulled with all his might, a single, sweeping flap from his ears being the straw breaking the cyborg camel's back, as Ameer flew from the machine, the tubes still in his hands.

As Jupet tried to continue trying to catch lihim, they could suddenly feel their balance slowly failing their weapon. "SHIT...I'LL CATCH YOU IDIOTS SOON!" They screamed out, as he messed around with the controls. This seemed to be too much, too late, as they soon fell to the ground as Jupet tried to rest on some of their robotic legs, falling on their backside.

Everyone slowly stopped their assault, ljhim and Stolas falling down to the earth.

Ameer shot up from the seemingly simple defeat, walking on the monster's tinted shell and jumping off, to Joytail's anger and everyone else's relief.

"Ameer, what the hell was that-" Joytail began.

"Shut up Andre, listen. I know how to end Jupet for good. You see these?" The imp cut off, holding up the tubes in his hands. "These are for their science project's LEGS. If we take all six of them, then we can immobilize that sick rat, and end this whole battle." Ameer declared.

"You could've figured this out without almost getting yourself murdered by that hunk of scrap." Joytail bemoaned, lightly pushing Ameer by the shoulders. "But wait...what Ameer said implies that Jupet is-" ljhim mentioned.

"I'M STILL ALIVE!" Jupet's pitch-shifted voice called out.

One of the immobile legs shot up, it's chainsaw tendrils falling off, and trailed through the sky as a missle, aimed square at the party. "Welp...we're boned." Triste complained.

"Don't worry, your guardian angel can handle this!" ljhim called out. He jumped in front of the party and the missle, readying his spirit energy.

"This dude's gonna kill himself." Laxgay emotionlessly muttered in shock. "For us!" Joytail proclaimed, not initially understanding the danger of lihim's plight.

The angelic feline held the missle from the top, and pierced it with a large crucifix shaped lazer, knocking it down, and absorbing the explosive energy into the cross-shaped maccination.

"WHAT THE F-WELL, WHATEVER, THIS SHOULD KILL YOU NO MATTER WHAT!"

The second immobile leg, laying straight, launched in a similar way, and was aiming right for the feet of the party.

"OH I WON'T LET YOU GUYS BE AMPUTEES!" Triste hollered out. "GAY MAN!" He continued, yelling at Laxgay as he dragged him nearer. "SHOOT AT THE MISSLE WITH YOUR WEIRD THERAPY CRYSTALS! QUICKLY, IT'S OUR ONLY WAY!" The cowboy commanded.

"I'm glad you're not calling me a slur, but you could've at least thought of a-whatever." Laxgay attempted to reason, before giving up. He summoned all of his energies into this singular behemoth of a blast, his muscles tensing up, molars tightening, and eyelids stiffened. "G-9-god, this looked easier when lihim w-w-was d. doing it...oh lord..." He crunched out, before shooting out his icicle-like retaliation, passing out. It shot out of his hands at speeds of lightning, stabbing the missle right in the bullseye, exploding and knocking back all of the party on their backs.

"Ugh. damn, that shit's like a kick to the ribs." Joytail said, sluggishly getting it up and removing bits of shrapnel from his chest, before helping up everyone else that was in need.

But as he was, he could see the machinery from the Troupe slowly reorganize itself. The legs restructured themselves to be centered at the bottom of the cockpit's platter. "STUPID FOOLS! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I WORK FOR? THIS IS PURE TAXPAYER MONEY, AND IT MAKES FOR AMAZING WEAPONRY!" Jupet crooned. Readying an attack at any moment.

"Damn it. Stolas! Get Laxgay to a hospital, get back as soon as you can!" Joytail demanded, sternly. Almost immediately, Stolas grabbed the bastion and carried him by the talons, far away from the fight

"Tjhim, circle them aga-" Joytail said, before Triste cut him off.

"They're not gonna fall for the same trick again, pardner. You gotta spice up the formula. Like, my auntie? Terrible pancake recipe. AWFUL. But when my great cousin Ribbleton added some shredded up chex mix and used it as seasoning, MMM-MM. No more vomiting at Thanksgivin'." Triste meandered. Joytail started thinking, before running up to Ameer.

"You gotta let me borrow this." He spat, before snatching the tubes from Ameer's hands and dashing in front of the machine.

"I don't think I have to...or should." Ameer commented, before running after the behemoth Turf Tiger in fear

"HEY! JUPET! YOU WANT THESE TUBES?" Joytail yelled, waving them a foot in front of the machine. "Y-YEAH! GIVE THOSE BACK, YOU JERK!" Jupet hollered.

Joytail looked at ljhim, motioned towards him, and threw the tubes straight up at the air. Almost immediately, the feline took flight and grabbed the tubes from the CO2, flying away with them. "YOU GOTTA CATCH THEM, NERD!" Joytail said, a villainous smirk on his face before faux running from Jupet, with the rest of the party following suite. "H-HEY!" Jupet cried.

As Jupet stomped through the village. The party kept their pace, but slowed down enough to get to the backside, where Ameer previously ripped the tubes, demobilizing Jupet for the first time.

“Do any of you guys know how to get up there?" Triste asked. Ameer shrugged. "I just got super lucky with my jumps, especially with these wings." He explained, before looking at Joytail. "Can you jump high enough?" The imp asked.

"Not without some help..." The turf tiger realized. He got a chunk of dirt from the earth, and handed it to Triste. "Turn this into some nuts and bolts for me, and get on my back, both of you." He demanded. "I dunno, I'd look like your bisexual son." He questioned, before being dragged by the neck onto Joytail's muscular back.

"God, this feels weird." The cowboy said, as he adjusted himself and his balance, readying his gun and turning the earth into metal. Ameer followed suit, jumping on and grabbing hold of Joytail's shoulders. "Alright... Triste, when I jump, use your gun. With all that extra ammo, the kickback should be greatly increased. Ameer, after that you flap those ears as much as you can, then we'll see if any of us can get a hold of their back." Joytail explained.

"If video comes out of me on your back, I'm choking the chicken. Literally." Triste sighed, before readying himself. "I'm prepared!" Ameer said, already readied.

"Ok...one." Joytail began.

“Two." Triste called out.

"THREE!" Ameer screamed.

Joytail readied his knees, and jumped an impressive length. Triste aimed his gun at the ground, and sequentially boosted the trio with his gunfire, and Ameer flapped and flapped up to the exposed tubes, Ameer starting where he began, staying where he was on the robot the first time, Joytail near the legs, and Triste sticking on the glass. "Alright...Joytail, you're gonna grab these two cables, and, Triste, you're gonna do the same with this one-" Ameer started, before he was lightly swatted with Triste's gun.

"You cityslicker, THIS is how you do the operation." Triste bemoaned. He flexed his paws, felt around, and at what seemed at the speed of light, he jumped away, shot the tube into half, falling back on to the ground, slowly fading from view. Soon, the stability of the machine changed, and as Jupet's machine shot the missile outwards, trying to stay on the mechanical "ground" became harder.

Ameer realized what would happen soon. If he didn't get the hell out of there, the missiles would be fired at him and he'd be burnt to a crisp. "Joytail! Get down here, change of plans." The imp hybrid called out, scooting over with whatever he could.

The Turf Tiger slid down, grabbing onto the ledges with his hind paws, before being shaken up by the changing machine. Joytail tightened his grip for dear existence, reaching for the tubes with all his might. Ameer followed suit, grabbing the final tube, the beginning of the ending to Jupet's dreaded existence.

"Quickly, at the same time...one-" Joytail began

"THREE!" Ameer spat out.

Ameer flew out of the machine's range, and took the tube with him, ripping it into a million pieces, causing the machine to fall to the ground. As Joytail began to lose his connection to the surface, He grappled on to the tube with heavy force. But this proved to be too little, as the machine's back side flew up into the air as the missile came flying into his trajectory. He was flung up, ripping the tube firmly in his own custody. The robot's frontside fell firmly on the ground, putting a shattered dent in the tinted windows and damaging much of the machinery. As Joytail was plopped firmly on the ground, bruising much of his torso and arms, he noticed the opening to finally end the battle, with a firmly placed stab in the tail. He took a deep breath, and made a running start.

The few meters between the turf tiger and the robot felt like an eon, as the tension started to simmer into a heating flame, Joytail's stamina boosted, his breathing even more erratic. This was his chance to go good. He could save all these people, these innocent villagers! And it all ended with this single jab to the head. He couldn't wait for this, the apprehension was starting to burst! As messed up as it was, an actual smile was place on his face as he jumped up for the killing blow. He paused slightly in the mid air, before landing his tail straight in the dent. He could feel meat and liquid passing through his tail, purple-ish blood landing everywhere. He placed himself on the newly made space from the lack of glass, slight shards entering his foot.

He looked around at the scene of the killing. It was insanely technologically advanced. Switches, buttons, touch screens, now all broken. Jupet was right, this is high tech. But thinking about what they said.tax-payer money? That means that The Troupe, whoever they are, are related to the government...which was a pretty scary thought to have.

But he couldn't think about that TOO much, he'll mention to the rest of the party. He had to relish in his kill...right?

But his expected giddiness was replaced with a horror.

The horror.

The horror

His tail was still in Jupet. It was a small creature, almost like from a Clovis subspecies. He had purple, wool-like fur circling their face, like a neckbeard. Their body was covered in pastel purples and greys, three claws on each hand and leg. They were wearing a seemingly unisex dress with a light floral pattern, now covering in blood.

He had gotten them right in the eyeball, the one that wasn't pierced being a magenta flavor. They were lightly coughing up blood.

"I don't want to do this anymore." Jupet croaked. Their voice was high pitched, immature, and slightly feminine.

Joytail had just killed a child.


	13. This Is The Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FV:TL Session Three: "White Roses In A Burning Banquet" Written By RG&MK

_ 3-1  _

"You do realize that out of all the places to hide, a hotel room probably isn't the most secure...you know that right?" Ameer questioned, quickly closing & barricading the door.

"It's what we're gonna have to deal with. Plus, we might get away with stealing the continental breakfast." Joytail offered.

"Waffles do sound good." Wraps commented.

"What kind of cereal do they have?" Triste asked. "If they have that hippie vegan garbage i'm not into it.. like Raisin Chew, or Frosted Foods, or freakin' Special K" he complained.

"You mean ketamine? I put that in my Euphoria, and also my oatmeal." Joytail bragged.

"Wha-No, you toad-for-brains, THE CEREAL!" Triste gawked in a heightened cowboy accent.

"Well, what kind of cereal do you LIKE?" lihim asked.

"Uh...CinniCrumbles, Cookie Crornches, Count Chocula-" Triste began.

"Frankenberry is better." Ameer admitted

"I'm gonna cut you." The sandy feline growled.

"I haven't had much breakfast. Us angels rarely ever eat, but now that I'm in a corporeal form, might be able to enjoy the food of this world." lihim admitted. Joytail looked at lihim with an odd expression.

"What makes you think that you're actually an angel?" The turf-tiger asked.

"Well... My memory is fuzzy but before I woke up at that church, I could definitely remember being a servant to the lords. Baphomet, Andre, a lot of names. All of these gods were doing different things for the benefit of the world...I don't know if I was sent down or banished, but i know that I was there. Besides, look at me! Have you seen a genus like mine or not? I bet-th you haven't!" He said, in confidence.

"What if you had a shroom overdose that caused you to lose all your memories and get new ones?" Ameer asked, in obvious dryness.

"Heh, funny. No, we angels don't do drugs. We're the winners, you see." lihim responded.

"Hmm... The only Andre I know is this old art exhibitionist from Cityside. I think he's been gone for years, though." Triste commented. "Used to show up on the Antiques Roadshow all the time. Only TV we really got in our household, besides the news and some cooking channels."

Wraps tapped Triste on the shoulder. "No, he's still around, he's just not as popular as he once was. Some light scandals and all that."

Suddenly. A similar pink haze covered the room in a silence of time. A bright blast of hot red blew through the lodge with numerous clouds of confetti and sprinkles as Shmoopy materialized in front of them.

"I can't believe," said Shmoopy, dramatically plashing a paw against his forehead as he materialized in a cloud of rainbow sparkles, "that you neglected to even mention Boo Berry. You absolute plebians."

"YOU BASTARD!" Joytail immediately shouting out, rushing towards the purple...thing. As he was to begin his assault, Wraps and Ameer held him back, trying to avoid conflicts with possible deities for now. "Dude, calm down!" Ameer pleaded.

"YOU NEVER FUCKING TOLD ME THAT JUPET WAS A CHILDI" The turf-tiger yelled out, reverberation across the room.

Shmoopy's expression turned grim, and he touched down onto the floor, standing on his two back paws as the rainbow mist around him dispersed. "Why would I have told you Jupet was a child? They needed to be killed. You wouldn't have agreed to it if I told you to kill a child... or something resembling a child."

As the creature's words left his mouth, the rest of the group carried a shocked expression in their brow. Ameer and Wraps ever-so-slightly loosened their grip on the furious warlord.

"Why couldn't you just TELL US UPFRONT who are targets are? I'm fine with getting my hands dirty, but not with the blood of MINORS!" Joytail roared.

"Yeah, now we're all over the news. People either love us for killing the brat or hate us for the same reason." Triste commented.

"Yeah, well, that pretty much is routine for any revolutionaries," said Shmoopy. "But hey, you're known now! You're walking legends! People are gonna be talking about you like you're the ghost of Tom Joad!"

Shmoopy approached Joytail, looking almost smug as he conjured up a baby blue cigar out of thin air. "And look, everybody knows that you can't make an omelette without cracking a few baby skulls. This is war, kid. If you wanna get your paws dirty, you gotta dig deep into the muck. That's just how it is."

The end of the cigar ignited in flame, and let out a trail of iridescent smoke that giggled like a faraway baby. Shmoopy puffed on it, and the smoke squealed in delight.

"Tough titties."

"War? When was this a war? I'd see it all over the news-"ljhim started.

"Not that kind of war you dope." Ameer spat. "He's making us do dirty work for some type of underground street shit battle between the authorities and the people, presumably because he can't do anything himself." He continued.

"Yeah..." Joytail started, gaining confidence. "Well, we're not trying to kill anymore people! We're trying to find the forest golem of. shit, i forgot the name already."

"The Forest Golem of Flesh and Bone?" Shmoopy asked.

"Yeah, them. They have information about the Troupe that we can use to our advantage...we don't have to kill random people to get information!" Joytail proclaimed.

"I definitely hope not..." Wraps commented, looking at lihim with a similar fearful expression.

"Hey," said Shmoopy, jabbing his cigar towards Joytail, "Jupet was not a 'random person.' Jupet was our Archduke Ferdinand. You don't know what they've done yet, but trust me.. you'll figure it out real soon."

"We know enough! They framed those Stoli-persons so that The Troupe had an excuse to destroy them and Manifest Destiny on their land." Triste proclaimed.

"They did some weird date-rape drug and forced them into monsters. If there's so much more to Jupet's actions, what are they?" Ameer questioned.

"Oh, there's a lot more to it... but it wouldn't be very fun if I just laid out everything for you, now would it?" Shmoopy chomped on his cigar, and let loose a pillow of smoke that squealed. "But really, I don't think you're ready for the whole picture yet. I mean, I've told you, really, but you wouldn't believe me. At least not yet. But let me compensate you for your trouble." Shmoopy snapped his left paws, and a watery, round blob about the size of a basketball dropped from the cloud of cigar smoke, right into his left arms.

"Here," he said, presenting it to Joytail. "Hold onto this. If things start getting hairy, just throw it up into the air. You'll know when the time is right. It'll help you out in the meantime, too."

Joytail looked at the orb with a sense of indignation. He looked up at the effeminate canine creature.

"After all the shit you've pulled, why should we trust you?"

"Do you have anybody else you can trust?" asked Shmoopy. He snapped the cigar away, and it poofed into a cloud of sparkles. "Look, I really am looking out for you guys. I don't want you hurt. I want to protect you. But there's only so much I can do. I've tried so many other things to set things right in this crazy, mixed-up world, and you're my last hope. You're Flora's last hope."

His purple eyes turned doe-like, and he knitted his brow. "I'm sorry I can't be more open with you guys, but there's so much at stake here. So much. And, like it or not... we're stuck with each other. We need each other. There's no turning back now, 'cause this ride's already started, and it's not gonna let you off until it's over."

His face turned more solemn, as he walked into the center of the group, showing just how small he was in comparison to the rest of the group. "we bought this ticket," he said. "We're taking this ride."

"I never asked for this..." Joytail mumbled, his head hanging low and his hand gripped into a readily wishable fist.

Triste snatched the orb from the warlord's hands. "What does this thing even done do?"

"Think of is as a Deus Ex Machina button," said Shmoopy. "Do you know what that means?" "It's when the lords come down to protect you themselves." lihim informed.

"Well, if you're the god saving us, I don't trust it." Joytail angerily complained.

Ameer looked at the turf tiger with concern.

"Who said I was a god?" asked Shmoopy. "Well, I guess I could be a god, comparatively. I don't think I get worshiped enough to be qualified as a proper god. Sure would be nice, though..." his mind started to drift, and a ghostly image appeared above his head, depicting a scene in which Shmoopy was lounging on a throne, being fed bonbons by oiled, muscly, mostly hairless bipedal creatures wearing nothing but banana hammocks. As he snapped out of his reverie, the image disintegrated into confetti with the trill of a part blower, and he regained his composure.

"But, no. I won't be the one coming down from the heavens saving you. You'll just... have a bit of my magic to use in a pinch, let's say. Be careful how you use it, though, the results might be a tad... unpredictable."

"Well, if you're not coming, who the hell-" Joytail said, stopping himself in a grunting rage.

"Can you give us a name atleast? Something we can pass along to the Golem to know who's trying to kill us?" Ameer asked.

"Well, if I were you, I'd be watching your back for Lily. That's Jupet's mother, and oh boy, is she not happy about what you did. Really not happy." His expression turned stern again. "Don't let her looks fool you. You won't like her when she's angry."

"I'm starting to not like anyone..." Joytail bemoaned, before looking back to his crew. "Well, except for these guys..." He said, in a honest fit on earnest affection.

"...These nerds are the best workhorses I could ever want!" The warlord continued, trying to shove his feelings under the rug.

"Well, are they on the hunt for us right now? That's all I really want to know." Wraps said.

"Yeah, I just wanna have breakfast." Triste commented, lihim nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, she's probably looking for you guys," confirmed Shmoopy. "I mean, how could she not know? It's all over the news! So uh... you might want to keep a low profile, if you can."

"We were already planning too, but it's hard considering everything." ljhim commented

"Alright do you think the Golem would hold any knowledge about her?" Joytail asked.

"Probably. It's worth asking," said Shmoopy. "Now, do you have any more questions? My stories are coming on in about five minutes."

A light smirk appeared on Joytail face.

"Yeah, actually, I got this list of complaints me and my team have gotten-" He began, pulling out a notepad and faux skimming through it. Ameer almost immediately jumped up and started smothering the turf tiger with his hands.

"No he doesn't, he's just trying to piss you off. Not that I don't support him, but i need my breakfast."

"Fair enough." Shmoopy spread out all of his arms, and a mist of rainbow sparkles engulfed him as he rose up into the air. "I'll see you crazy kids around, so be good, brush your teeth, eat your vegetables, give your mommy's banking information to the CIA so they can get the epic victory royal! Toodles!" And then he vanished, leaving with a "pop!" that sounded like a cork shot from a bottle. The sparkles dissipated, and he was gone, the purples and pinks fading out of the room around them, time spinning normally

Joytail, furious and in the moment, did an Attitude Adjustment to Ameer, pinning him down onto the floor, only barely keeping his back in check.

"What was that for?! I was gonna give him a laundry list of complaints and make him miss..." Joytail started, before turning to Wraps. "What soap operas do you think he'd like?" The warlord asked.

"Uh... Passions? Wraps suggested.

"With the midget flowercat and LaPurr Poyet?" Joytail asked.

"Isn't Poyet like, 80? How does she not go into a stroke at every shoot?" Ameer croaked out.

"Look, doesn't matter. We gotta get moving." Joytail demanded, "If we don't cause too much ruckus, we'll go unnoticed. We gotta act like a typical Countryside family in a typical Countryside breakfast." He continued.

"Abnormal small talk hand n' hand with silence?" Triste suggested.

"I.." Joytail started. "It's... It's depressing you knew where I was going with that, but yes. Let's roll." He ended, opening the door and trying to tiptoe his way through the halls, the rest of the coalition following suite.


	14. 3-2: Stick To Your Guns

Beige travertine tiles covered the small eating room. Other than a television, two shelves for the food and the chair and table set ups, very little was occupying the makeshift cafeteria...not even people. It seemed that the gang had appeared early for their breakfast, as only Joytail, Ameer, Triste, Ijhim, and Wraps had found themselves taking part in the somewhat lackluster feast.

Ameer chomped down on the many donuts he could rummage, a lot of them chocolate and glazed. “Sho…” He slightly whispered, with food in his mouth. “Whhhen dou we Shhplit?” 

“Don’t talk when yer eating son, it’s very rude.” Joytail said, in a light cowboy accent. Ameer did not return the aesthetic, swallowing his food in a large gulp. 

“I’m not calling you daddy.” The imp confirmed, a concerned look smothering Joytail’s face.

Ijhim had almost everything he could gather from the menu. “Wow...All of this food. I don’t know what to choose. Triste, dear cowboy, what do you suggest I eat?” He asked. “Hm… Try those scrambled eggs, sonny.” Triste confirmed. 

Ijhim quickly took his fork, took a sliver, and put it in his mouth. “Hmmm….WOW!” Ijhim cried out slightly. “My tongue has never felt this…this Scrambled Egg. The whole egg? I’m shocked.” He said to himself. He then took a waffle coated with slight syrup and put in his mouth. 

“OOOOH. This sweetness, it fills my glands with-” Ijhim started, before being forcefully shushed by Joytail’s palm.

“We gotta be quiet, OK? We don’t know who could-” He began, before the doors lightly run open. A skinny tuxedo cat female entered the room. She wore a beret, and war-time corduroy suspenders and work-shirt. 

“Oh.” She said, her voice somewhat tenor-pitched. 

“You guys were hiding HERE.”

Joytail rose up his drug-infused stinger, ready to pounce, Ameer raising it down. “Dude, I don’t think she’s trying to kill us.” The hybrid chimed.

“No, i’m not. That’s not my talent, I’m a waitress and aspiring writer.” The cat quipped, moving towards them, taking out a seat and sitting down.

“Aspiring...so you write weird video game fanfiction to make up for the terrible job?” Ameer quipped, Joytail and Triste lightly giggling. “Very funny.” The cat said with a smirk, lightly punching Ameer in the shoulder. “No...I want to work for the news.” She continued.

“God, the news isn’t really treating us that well, aren’t they?” Wraps bemoaned, a shunning look from Ijhim.

“The news, no, but the people seem to love you. Hold up, lemmie find the remote control.” The cat confirmed, grabbing the rectangular remote, and turning stations left and right.

“You mother-”

BZZT.

“Ever since I used Grablingkl-”

BZZT.

“My dad beats-”

BZZT.

“-his is the Patriot Report, I’m Greta Gretchen.” The news station turned to a right-leaning platform, manned by a female Manticore with light blue coloration and soft spikes circling her body.

“God, nobody likes goddamn CANINE NEWS, turn this crap off.” Joytail bemoaned. 

“No, you guys taking down that rat Jupet is all their talking about. They HATE that the general populace, at least in Cityside, supports you. Listen!” The tuxedo cat commented, pointing to the screen.

“Today continues our coverage of the terrorist group known as The Loveless Coalition.” Greta began.

“These rag-tag group of demons have threatened our democracy by treating our trustworthy and protective government like something to throw away because of some indigenous folk.” The manticore rambled. “The left-wing caravan of Cityside has supported them, like filthy traitors, while Countryside has stayed firm in it’s devotion to the morals held down by our leaders, our kings, and The Masked Sun.”

A poll popped up on screen showing that 67% of Countrysiders wanted the death penalty for The Loveless Coalition. 

“Topside and Hellside have both been fairly silent on the matter. The people have just now been getting news, and opinions are divided.” Gretchen continued. She cut to interviews from numerous different people, giving a slew of different opinions, to support, to distaste, to hatred, to love. “But not helping these evil Loveless cronies is Lily. She’s declared to take down The Loveless Coalition if they ever enter Topside, in order to protect her members, and the Floraverse.” Gretchen added.

“See? What you’ve done has caused a spark around the world...and I wanted to help.” The suspender-ed cat proclaimed. “What, are you gonna get armed and help us fight?” Joytail asked. 

“No, not like that, although I can defend myself if i need too...I want to be your representative.” She confirmed.

The group showed an obvious shock. “So, like, you’re gonna like represent us when the media asks shit about us? Don’t you think you’re gonna get interrogated?” Triste asked. 

“I don’t think so. I would definitely hope not. Obviously, you don’t have to enlist my services, but It was important I tried finding you before you left. My name’s Moxxy.” The feline offered.

“Well, we don’t really have anything to lose...but more than likely we’re gonna be in a bunch of different places and sides. If we took you along, we might have another corpse on our hands.” Joytail considered. “I mean, yeah, but the Internet is a thing that exists. I still have a phone.” Ameer brought up. 

“Yeah, besides, she said she could defend yourself. What’s the problem with bringing her along?” Triste bemoaned.

“Well…” Joytail stammered, looking at Moxxy.

She thought of…

Her.

“I just don’t want to risk anything, th-that’s all. We can take her along when we’re sure that there’s no risk to her safety.” Joytail explained.

“There’s not gonna be a lot of times where she’s ‘safe’ with us, y’know.” Ameer reminded. “We’re loners, Joytail. Rebels. We’re gonna be on the run from so many people!” He continued. “It’s either gonna be she never comes along and we never see her again or she comes along and she never sees here again for the longest time AT BEST.”

“Ameer, that’s a bit much...but I understand your general consensus.” Ijhim consented. 

“Come on guys, It can’t be THAT dangerous, right? How many people want your tail?” Moxxy questioned.

“A lot of people, especially that Lily person.” Joytail crabbed.

“You mean Lily Formosa? The girl who works for TAL?” Moxxy attempted to clarify. 

“If that’s the same one who was on the television, yeah.” Triste 

“Oh, god, she’s a little shit. She works for this corporation that catalogues animal species...at least on the surface.” Moxxy bemoaned.

“Wait, on the surface? What else could she be doing?” Wraps asked.

“Simply put, TAL is funded by the government. There’s no doubt that they’re using TAL to advance their agenda.” Moxxy complained.

“Wait...She’s essentially a government worker...oh my GOD...” Ameer spoke, beginning with a whisper and ending with a shout and a shock in his bones.

The coalition darted their attention towards the satyrbun imp.

“What, what?!” Joytail asked.

“So…” Ameer started, looking at Moxxy. He knew it’d be hard to explain a...thing...like Shmoopy to this newcomer to their travels. “...remember when our...anonymous source...said that Lily was Jupet’s ‘mother’?” He eventually said.

“You mean that big ball of balderdash Shmoo-” Triste started, before being punched in the shoulder by Ameer. “We’ll tell her later.” He whispered.

“Anyways...My idea is that Jupet got both her mission AND her weird spider mecha from the government, using TAL as a proxy. She said that her machine was paid for by taxpayer money. If that’s the case, then she could’ve very easily been given that by Lily. If Moxxy is correct, and TAL only catalogues fauna on the surface as a cover for their real intentions, then we could easily pin TAL with the crime of destroying and drugging the Stoli and their villages.” Ameer spoke, ending his shpiel. 

“...Whoa. Ameer, that’s genius!” Joytail complimented, the rest of the coalition lightly cheering in accolation.

Well...except for Moxxy. She stood in her chair deep in thought, her hands on her chin as she looked down, putting in brain-work she thought she’d only used for writing the longest of editorials.

“Guys...We need to break into TAL.” Moxxy finally said, 

Her statement crushed the whole area into fearful silence. Everyone looked at each other with a grim realization of the stakes. Breaking into TAL would more than likely result in meeting Lily herself, a person with a clear deathwish so palpable it could be tasted through all sides.

“Moxxy, we’d be falling straight into the teeth of the beast if we did such an act! Are you crazy?” Ijhim finally said.

“Yeah, i don’t know if we can do that, especially without some of our crew members. There were some people we had to leave behind in order to get to the golem.

“The Golem of Flesh and Bone? Are you sure he’ll answer your calls? He only answers the most intensely grave.” Moxxy reminded. 

“I’m sure it’s grave enough. We just have to ask the golem where TAL would be. I understand it’s in Topside, but not specifically where.” Joytail assured. “Even then, the Golem’s magic could very much help us.” He added.

“Alright...If I can’t come along for this ride, I could at least issue a statement on your behalf.” Moxxy offered, whipping out a typewriter.

“Yes, you should. We need to respond to the clamour about us very soon.” Wraps mentioned. “I agree, and I assure the rest of us are following suit.” Ijhim responded, looking around the room to nodding heads.”

“Alright, but first I need a logo.” Moxxy said. “You know, every good militia has a symbol for representation.” The feline thought out loud.

“Alright, let me take a swig at it…” Joytail said. He went towards the desks where the food was, whipped out a purple marker, and drew a clean circle. A long pause soon followed.

“That’s all I got.” The warlord feebishly ended.

“You know what would be cool? An upside down cross!” Ameer spoke in gleeful hysteria. “Oh, my!” Ijhim said, feeling queasy. “I would never want my name associated with unholy lords like that!” He defiantly said.

“Actually, that’s not a terrible idea. If we want the voice of the youth, we should appeal to something raw, and edgy.” Moxxy commented.

“AWW HELL YEAH!” Ameer cried out, snatching the marker from Joytail and drawing an upside down cross. He then wrote “The Coalition” on the paper, a large space in between the two words. He then tossed the marker to Ijhim. “Here, finish what i started.” Ameer demanded. 

“Hmmph. Just know that I don’t approve of this child’s appropriation of the dark arts.” He spoke, writing “Loveless” in between the two words with a beautiful gothic handwriting, only fitting for an angel. 

“Wow…” The coalition all shared in approval.

“Damn, this looks REALLY good. Let me start writing.” Moxxy said, loudly typing away with reverberating clicks, clacks, thwacks, and an occasional ding and shwoomp. 

“Don’t mind me, you can go look for the Golem. Here’s my number in case you want me to come with you.” The tuxedo feline reassured, handing a slip with a number to Joytail. 

 

“Alright...we should be on our way. Come on guys, let’s get the HELL out of here.” The warlord demanded, walking out of the room and towards the exit. The coalition followed suit.

 

\---

“Hello? Laxgay? Th-that’s your name, right? Please wake up. It’s been like, a day.” 

Laxgay slowly opened their eyelids as the previous anaesthetic had worn off on him from the day before. The blur in his eyeballs slowly faded out as he could see Stolas, the Stoli who had saved him the day previous, keeping an intensely concerned bedside manner. “Ugh...hey kid...what happened?” The bastion grumbled, still not entirely there yet. 

“Well...your friends kind of had to dip. They’re going to see The Golem of Flesh and Bone, in the forest away from here.” Stolas commented. “They didn’t abandon you, they just...didn’t want to have you hurt any more than you already were, i think.” The owl commented.

“No, no, it’s fine. I get it…” He said, beginning to get up, before Stolas tried pushing him back down.

“Y-you can’t leave yet! You’re still incapacitated, I-” The avian tried explaining.

“L-look, Stolas. We have to get there quickly before those idiots leave without me. I’ll be fine. Trust me.” Laxgay tried explaining.

Stolas sighed. “F-fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He finally said.

Laxgay grabbed onto the bedrest and balanced himself. Stolas covered his body with his feathers, giving him a firm backside to stay centered on. They slowly waltzed out of the room, weighing on eachother.

There was no door protecting the patients in the makeshift hospital. The village was covered with Stoli of many colors, sizes, and builds, contributing to rebuilding it. Much damage was done.

“Huh...I guess we really did a number on this place did we? I’m sorry about that man…” Laxgay spat out, shamefully. “N-no, it’s not just you. It was Jupet too. That mecha was huge, it wasn’t all your fault.” Stolas assured. The owl looked behind him to see a specific face returning from the original post. It was Elder Hotelias, returning from what seemed to be an important summit. 

“E-Elder Hotelias! How was your trip! Excuse my friend, we had to nurse him back to health.” Stolas said, excusing Laxgay.

“It was fine...until we had to capture a specific runt.” The elder confirmed.

“Wait...what runt? Jupet?” Laxgay asked. 

“No...Jupet’s gone.” Stolas clarified.

Laxgay stared at Stolas, and then the elder, who nodded. The bastion said nothing in response.

“No, not them. This one child was running away from his parents, it seemed, and we’ve had to capture him for the time be-” He started, before being interrupted by a guard and a high-pitched voice arguing away.

“...That seems to be them. GUARDS, BRING HIM IN. I must show them the boy.” The elder demanded. 

Almost as soon as he said it, two armed Stoli of similarly grey color palettes brought in a tiny rock-candy adolescent. He was a round boy, with shards of minerals in his back, much like a porcupine. He had a light pink color-scheme with three-toed claws for hands and feet, with a long, thin, pointed snout.

“Let me go! I HAVE to find them, I promised my friends!” The rock candy pleaded.

“You know well that this is Stoli territory.” The guards reminded.

“I just ran straight from the school, I didn’t know this was your place! I need to find them!” The crystal-coated creature begged.

“Wait, kid, who do you need to find exactly?” Laxgay coughed up.

“The Loveless Coalition.” The hedgehog-esque specimen answered. “My friend needs help!” He continued.

“What’s The Loveless Coalition?” Laxgay asked, sharing Stolas’s confused look.

“Have you guys been in a coma?” The rock candy complained, cutting off Laxgay before he could answer the question. “THE LOVELESS COALITION! The guys that killed that slime Jupet and are on the run, like a bunch of cowboys! They’re gonna defend our freedoms!” The porcupine answered. 

“Wait...kid, I know those guys! I was with them!” Laxgay brought up. “The only reason I’m still here is because I got knocked the hell out!” The bastion continued.

“WHAT?!?!” 

The porcupine cried out in anguished disbelief, so loud it caused the guards to let go of him in a painful recoil. The small creature fell on his ass and then ran towards the two. 

“You, owlboy, were you with them too?” The rock-candy asked, pointing sharply at Stolas.

“Uh...in an honorary sense, yes. I helped kill Jupet.” The masked bird commented.

“...ohmygodohmygodOHMYGOD! I ACTUALLY FOUND YOU GUYS!” 

The rock candy immediately started jumping up and down and running around in joyous zeal, before stopping and looking around.

Wait, where’s everybody else? I thought there was, like, 5 other people or so.” The porcupine asked, a confused look on his face.

“They’re trying to find The Golem of Flesh and Bone. I know where they are, but the group you seek doesn’t, so we have time to catch up.” Stolas confirmed. “So you can fly us over there?” Laxgay asked, looking over to Stolas with a nod. 

“Ho. Ly. Sh- Dude, you gotta take me with you. I have a serious conundrum on my hands, and only The Coalition can expose and stop who’s doing it.” The porcupine begged.

“How do we know you’re not sent from the powers that be to try and kill us?” Laxgay said. 

“Laxgay...please. Look at him. He may pack a punch but a government isn’t going to look good hiring CHILD ASSASSINS.” Stolas berated.

“You’re right, but come on. We’re ON THE RUN. We can only trust this closely knit circle.” Laxgay bluntly assessed.

“Look, I know you guys are in a pickle right now. But you have to trust me. If you guys don’t care about my problems, than I’ll...I’ll admit defeat, alright? I’ll go home. But YOU GOTTA get me over to the Coalition, I have to TRY to have them listen to me. My friend has been seriously hurt, and we need to find the culprit.” The hedgehog-esque specimen beseeched. 

“...Alright, fine. But you BETTER leave if we don’t care about what happened to your friend.” Laxgay demanded, holding out his hand. “My name’s Laxgay. Don’t laugh at the name, wasn’t my decision.” He continued.

Stolas lifted his talon and held it out for the porcupine to shake. 

The rock-candy looked at both of them with light concern, before greeting both of their hands in the middle, shaking it rigorously. 

“...Pipp. My name’s Pipp.” He said.

“Alright, It’s more of a pleasure to meet you. Stolas, tell your elder friend we’re gonna take care of the little one before we go. I don’t want him thinking we’re kidnapping him...quite literally in this case.” The bastion commented. Stolas nodded to Laxgay and ran to the elder, conversing in native tongues.

“Wha- Hold up, I’m not a kid! I’m 15! I’m a cool hip teenager!” Pipp complained, a light sarcasm in his tone. 

“It’s young enough.” Laxgay quipped, before Pipp jumped up and lightly punched him in the shoulder. Laxgay grabbed the rock candy by the crystal-like quills.

“Ay, Ay, AY! I don’t think you wanna mess with…” He started, summoning a crystal with enough energy to produce it, but not to shoot it out.

“...THIS!” He said, the crystal lightly levitating in his hand. Pipp showed genuine marvel in his face.

“Whoa...I didn’t know other species could use Crystals like that! I thought it was only us.” Pipp mentioned.

“Well, now you know. Are you particularly strong with your crystals?” Laxgay asked, seemingly out of rare curiosity.

“W-Well...No.” He said, looking away from Laxgay for a second before shooting back up to a prideful expression. “But I’m good at running! I’m REEEEALLY good at running! At my school, we have monthly fitness tests to make sure we’re not slacking off, and I’ve won first in almost every single one!” He said, a glimmer in his eyes, which transferred into Laxgay as he saw light promise in this rock candy.

His attention turned to Stolas. “Ok, we got to get going quickly. The coalition have probably already left for The Golem.” The owl confided. 

“Alright...Pipp, Stolas is gonna carry you on his talented talons. Whatever you do, don’t wiggle around too much, you’re gonna fall face first on the pavement, and your face is gonna look flat like a piece of paper.” Laxgay demanded, Pipp nodding. 

“Alright, LET’S GO!” Pipp called out. Stolas took a little bit of flight, his talons every so slightly levitating on the ground, and grabbed Pipp and Laxgay in each talon, before bursting into the sky, both of them shocked out of their mind at the speed. The trio left the Stoli village, seeing a beautiful morning twilight that was beautiful to outsiders, but a normal asset for the Stolis. As the three looked to the sky, they saw hope.


End file.
